


The Little Mermatsuno

by kisstheloststars



Category: The Little Mermaid (1989), おそ松さん | Osomatsu-san (Anime)
Genre: Affectionate Insults, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Alternate Universe - Music, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Alternate Universe - Swimming, Alternate Universe - Wizards, Angst, Banishment, Boats and Ships, Brotherly Affection, Brotherly Bonding, Brothers, Canon-Typical Violence, Comedy, Contracts, Family, Fear, Fireworks, Fish, Fish out of Water, Fishing, Implied osototo - Freeform, Insults, Light Angst, M/M, Magic, Magic-Users, Merpeople, Minor Violence, Music, Musical Instruments, Musicals, Overprotective, Overprotective Osomatsu, Romantic Comedy, Royalty, Sea, Sextuplets, Singing, Song Lyrics, Storms, Swimming, The Little Mermatsuno, Threats of Violence, Thunder and Lightning, Transformation, Violence, Wizard, merman
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-20
Updated: 2016-06-02
Packaged: 2018-05-27 19:34:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 27,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6297394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kisstheloststars/pseuds/kisstheloststars
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Bah! Merpeople,” Dekapan interjected, one arm wrapped over his stomach, “Atsushi-Kun, pay no attention to this nonsense! The very idea of them existing is preposterous-dasu!”<br/>“But it ain’t nonsense, it’s the truth!” The fisherman exclaimed, “Down in the depths they live, I’m tellin’ ya!” He insisted.<br/>Atsushi couldn’t help but smile at such a thought.</p><p>“I just want Osomatsu nii-san to listen to me for once…like he used to..." Todomatsu muttered, “How can humans be dangerous?” He asked, looking into Karamatsu’s eyes, “It’s a lie, right? How could a world that makes such wonderful things…be bad? I mean, I’ve never seen a human up close, so I can’t talk…but I’m sure they’re not bad!”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaa!!!! hELLO THERE, DEAR READERS!!! IT'S BEEN SO LONG!! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
> 
> As we arrive near the end of the Osomatsu-san anime, I've had so many ideas for Karabita, Osobita, and Atsutodo stories, and I've literally typed the ideas for most of them up! So please stay tuned for many Osomatsu-san fics coming from myself!~
> 
> This time I've decided to be one of the first to write an Atsutodo fic, because I FELL IN LOV E - I just don't know how to describe it. Atsutodo is just one of those ships that kinda doesn't, yet does make sense, you know? And I proposed the idea of a Little Mermaid!AU Atsutodo fic, which i'VE ACTUALLY HAD TWO BEAUTIFUL, GORGEOUS PIECES OF FANART DRAWN FOR, WHICH CAN BE VIEWED AT THE BEGINNING OF THE CHAPTER!!! <3 SO THANK YOU SO MUCH TO YOU TWO WONDERFUL PEOPLE, I'M OMF G !!;// <3
> 
> 1st + 2nd Piece - alexartnopal.tumblr.com  
> 3rd Piece - flowerymexicanx.tumblr.com  
> I DO HOPE YOU ALL LIKE THIS FIRST CHAPTER, BECAUSE I THINK I'LL BE ON A ROLL WITH THIS STORY!! I'M AIMING TO MAKE IT PRETTY LONG WITH MULTI CHAPS, SO STAY TUNED!
> 
> PLEASE ENJOY READING, DEAR READERS!!! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

***

The cold gusts of wind blew against the broad, seemingly endless sea, raindrops somewhat present – the waves were crashing together harmlessly as seagulls cried out to one another, their wings slicing through the foggy air whilst flying. The dolphins emerged from the sea, yapping to one another, and amongst all of this, a lone ship sailed, one of which contained many fishermen, those on deck and in charge of the ship, and one man whom belonged to royalty.

As the fishermen lifted the nets, they were indeed filled with orange fish to last the entire kingdom a few months – with the sails being pulled up, Atsushi couldn't help but think to himself how much he loved days like this.

The prince leaped near the edge of the ship, gaining balance by gripping onto the shrouds with one hand, whilst the other attempted to block any raindrops from getting into his eyes – with his legs settled between the shrouds, the prince looked out and beyond the sea, before audibly sighing out over the sounds of the waves, seagulls, and raindrops.

“ _Isn’t this just great, Professor? It’s the perfect day to be out at sea, right?_ ” Atsushi asked, the breathlessness audible in his voice – as he turned his head around, running a hand through his messy brown hair (it was merely like that due to today’s weather circumstances – otherwise it would be poshly swept to the side), the prince couldn’t help but grin upon looking down and seeing his guardian, butler, as well as loyal adviser, Dekapan, leaning over the edge, practically green-faced.

“Yes…delightful-dasu…” The elderly man replied, his head raised slightly and turned around weakly to face the prince – however, after a few mere seconds, the butler’s eyes widened as he retched, instantly going back to throwing up.

Atsushi couldn’t help but shake his head with a chuckle, looking out at the sea yet again. It seemed the rain had totally let up, but the sky still remained as gray as ever.

“A huge catch this fine morning, a fine day at sea,” One of the fishermen began, “Osomatsu-Sama must be in a friendly mood!” He exclaimed.

The prince’s curiosity then peaked as he blinked, turning his head around yet again – the fisherman was busy tying one of the pieces of rope up, and Atsushi couldn’t help but jump down from the shrouds.

“Osomatsu-Sama?” Atsushi inquired, “Who’s that?”

“Why, he’s the ruler of the merpeople, lad! King of The Seven Seas, too!” Another fisherman chimed in, busy chucking the fish into the unoccupied barrels – Atsushi couldn’t help but cock an eyebrow, “Thought every good sailor knew of him!” The man exclaimed, causing the prince to chuckle.

“I’m no sailor,” Atsushi replied, “I’m merely a prince.”

“Bah! Merpeople,” Dekapan interjected, one arm wrapped over his stomach, “Atsushi-Kun, pay no attention to this nonsense! The very idea of them existing is preposterous-dasu!”

“But it ain’t nonsense, it’s the truth!” The fisherman exclaimed, “Down in the depths they live, I’m tellin’ ya!” He insisted.

Atsushi couldn’t help but smile at such a thought.

* * *

The many merpeople made their way towards the shimmering underwater palace – with its intricate details of gold moulded through what only one could describe as undoubted magic, the merpeople all greeted one another as friends and family conversed - with their colourful tails swimming freely, and their hair moving smoothly, many other seawater creatures made their way inside the palace, too, merguards standing at the entrance, spears in hand.

After a fair few minutes, the main hall within the palace was packed, pillars surrounding the spacious room in a circular fashion, a dazzling, large shell chandelier hanging from the top. As the chattering of merfolk and sea creatures settled down, a fanfare of trumpets resounded throughout the hall, and the lights were dimmed – a small seahorse emerged from behind one of the pillars, making his way and swimming onto the stage (an orchestra pit in front of it), before coughing repeatedly, everyone’s attention now focused on him.

“Ahem!" The seahorse began, audibly nasal and high-pitched, "Presenting his Royal Kingliness, ruler of The Seven Seas, and the eldest of the Royal Sextuplets, Osomatsu-Sama!” He called out.

Instantly, cheers erupted throughout the entire hall as the ruler of this particular kingdom emerged - riding a tortoise shell as three dolphins pulled him along, Osomatsu looked down and waved at everyone with his free hand whilst grinning, their cheers only seeming to get louder. The king then travelled over to the chandelier, pointing at it as he ran a hand through his swishing, brown hair – right away, the hall lit up once again through his magic, and it seemed as though the chandelier was raining glitter.

Letting go of the reins which constrained the three dolphins, and having one of the guards take the tortoise shell away, the king’s beautiful, smooth red tail was shown off momentarily - Osomatsu, now settled down within the elevated opera box, couldn’t help but sigh out with a smile, arms behind his head as he leaned back. He undoubtedly had the greatest view, and that was one of the many perks which came with his status.

“And presenting his distinguished Royal Princeliness to conduct today’s concert, the 3rd eldest of the Royal Sextuplets, Choromatsu-Sama!” The seahorse continued on, snapping the King out of his thoughts.

Appearing on cue, Prince Choromatsu had emerged - although without a tortoise shell, or dolphins to carry him along. With the same face, same hair, and same body type as Osomatsu, but surprisingly enough, a green tail, the prince held a thick book full of sheet music against his chest. Whilst he waved at the audience with a smile, the king couldn’t help but grin at the sight.

‘ _He still looks as nerdy as ever._ ’ Osomatsu thought to himself, ‘ _Well, we all have that one younger sibling who’s like that. I’ll let him have it for today. For Todomatsu’s sake._ ’

“In addition, presenting the 2nd eldest Royal Sextuplet, Karamatsu-sama, the 4th eldest Royal Sextuplet, Ichimatsu-sama, and finally, the 5th eldest Royal Sextuplet, Jyushimatsu-Sama!”

Yet again, cheers became even louder, as well as clapping. Osomatsu merely looked on with a wide smile to see Jyushimatsu emerge, his shimmering yellow tail seeming to move a lot more in comparison to the average merperson – as he was calling out to the audience enthusiastically, mouth open wide, positively beaming, Ichimatsu had appeared, clearly uncomfortable as he was giving a small wave to the audience, his eyes half-lidded in fatigue, hair utterly dishevelled, and his purple tail having minimal movement to it as he floated along.

The king then cocked an eyebrow upon seeing that there was no sign of Karamatsu.

When Ichimatsu and Jyushimatsu swam up to sit by Osomatsu’s side in the opera box, Choromatsu proceeded to swim in front of the orchestra pit, causing a group of sea creatures to emerge and take their seats within the pit, the orchestra tuning up as the lights dimmed yet again for effect.

“ _Hey, where the hell is Karamatsu!?_ ” Osomatsu asked his younger brothers in a hushed whisper, “ _He’s meant to be here!_ ” He pointed out far too obviously, looking around with a frown.

“Dunno!” Jyushimatsu beamed with a laugh, holding his arms out and shrugging.

“Who cares?” Ichimatsu muttered in question, “The audience didn’t even notice – they’re all far too focused on clapping and cheering mindlessly…look, they’re all staring at the stage, wanting to see Totty..” He added on, gesturing to the people sat down below.

“I care!” Osomatsu snapped, “Man, you’re so cold, Ichimatsu!” He informed, cocking an eyebrow – Ichimatsu simply shrugged as Jyushimatsu erupted into laughter.

“Hey, hey!” Jyushimatsu began, “Why d’you care so much, Nii-san?” He asked curiously, causing Osomatsu to blink in surprise, before looking away in melancholy.

“No real reason…”

And so it was left at that.

Choromatsu coughed a few times in an authoritative manner as he turned his head around to look up at where Osomatsu sat. He then gave a smirk as the spotlight was now focused on himself.

Osomatsu couldn’t help but twitch an eye at his younger brother’s mischievous expression, gesturing for him to begin already – Choromatsu seemed to oblige as he turned back around, placing the book full of sheet music on the stand.

The sea creatures were all at the ready, and the seahorse wasted no time in swimming up to where Osomatsu was, floating by his side.

“I’m really looking forward to this performance,” Osomatsu said to the creature with a smile, “Thanks for your hard work!” He added on.

“Yup, yup! Thanks!” Jyushimatsu beamed, causing Ichimatsu to nod his head in thanks.

The seahorse couldn’t help but hold his chuckles in.

“Oh, Your Majesties!” He began modestly, “This might in fact be the finest concert within history!” He added on excitedly, “The music class will be absolutely spectacular in this celebratory graduation concert, I’m sure!”

“Yeah,” Osomatsu replied, before grinning, “And especially our youngest brother!” He added on – Ichimatsu couldn’t help but smirk as he raised his eyebrows, and Jyushimatsu covered his mouth to stifle his laughter – Osomatsu noticed the two and their gestures, “W-What?!” He asked defensively with a frown.

“No, nothing really,” Ichimatsu said obnoxiously, “You just sound a lot like father.”

“Ahahah! That’s right, that’s right!” Jyushimatsu added on.

Osomatsu reddened in the face, snapping a small ‘shut up!’ in reply. The seahorse couldn’t help but chuckle yet again.

“Of course, Your Majesty!” He replied, “Todomatsu-Sama has the most beautiful voice!”

“This concert is all about Totty and his musical debut,” Ichimatsu muttered, “So you could hardly call it a celebratory graduation concert for the music class.” He added on.

“True!” Jyushimatsu chimed in with a nod, “He’s singing most of these songs by himself, anyway!”

“Well, he always was a teacher’s pet,” Ichimatsu added on, “Everyone adores him in that class, too – so they don’t mind.” He carried on, kissing his teeth, “Just because he’s a prince, and the youngest of us sextuplets.”

“Geez, shut up already, Ichimatsu,” The king said in boredom, picking his ear – Ichimatsu stuck his tongue out at him in reply.

As the hall now remained silent, Choromatsu’s back facing the audience, the prince held a thin baton made from silk seashells in hand – after a few tense seconds, he tapped it on the stand, and the sea creatures had begun playing their instruments passionately.

Around fourty seconds of bliss had passed for Osomatsu as his arms were folded, a smile on his face whilst Todomatsu’s music class were singing. The stage’s bubble-like curtains were pushed to the side, as the enlarged stage props (consisting of seashells which opened up to reveal the mermaids and mermen of the music class) had appeared – whilst the class were singing, swimming around and performing impressive tricks, Osomatsu stared eagerly, awaiting his youngest brother’s solo.

“ _Then there is the youngest prince, It’s his musical debut,_

_And after countless practises, we’re presenting him to you,_

_The star of hope with a voice that is very much like few,_

_His name starts with ‘Todo’ and then ‘mats---_ “

However, the lone, enlarged seashell, a specially created prop for Prince Todomatsu, the youngest of the Royal Sextuplets, had opened up to reveal no one sitting in there.

The class had cut themselves off in horror, resulting in the sea creatures to stop playing.

Gasps had resounded throughout the hall, and Ichimatsu’s half-lidded expression turned into that of surprise. Jyushimatsu gave a mere, loud ‘AH.’, and Choromatsu screamed in horror, dropping his baton (which simply floated near him) as he clutched his hair, looking from the prop to Osomatsu.

“ ** _TODOMATSU!_** ”

Needless to say, the eldest of the sextuplets was _not_ happy.

* * *

There the rumoured ship graveyard was, all of which once belonged to the humans above the surface – as Todomatsu peeked over one of the sunken ship’s tilted masts, the boy couldn’t help but beam, eyes sparkling in pure curiosity.

With his shimmering pink tail swishing from side to side in pure excitement, Todomatsu blinked in realisation, turning head around to look around, his swept-to-the-side brown hair following suite.

“ _Karamatsu nii-san, hurry up already!_ ” He called out in a whisper with a roll of his eyes, gesturing his older brother over as he wanted to preserve the silence. After doing so, the boy placed the red bag he used for collecting objects over his shoulder, smiling to himself.

“Sorry, sorry, just wait up! You know I can’t swim at your speed!” Karamatsu whined, swimming over frantically, his beautifully blue tail’s movement swift. He seemed to have quite the muscle, but the least backbone for a prince.

“Look, look!” Todomatsu beamed, pointing as he ignored his complaints, “There it is, Nii-san!” He informed, before sighing dreamily, “Isn’t it beautiful?” He asked.

After looking from his little brother to the sunken (seemingly rotten) dark ship (which had a few fish swimming away from it), Karamatsu squinted his eyes, laughing nervously.

“Y-Yeah, it’s great, brother…” He replied, “So, uh, now that we’ve seen it - let’s get out of here!” The boy beamed cheerfully, causing Todomatsu to roll his eyes yet again.

“Oh, c’mon, Nii-san!” He whined, tugging on his arm, “You’re not getting cold fins now, are you?” He asked.

“Heh! Who, _me?_ ” Karamatsu asked with a nervous, flashy smirk, running a hand through his hair, “Of course not, brother!”

“Good – now come on!” Todomatsu said with a laugh, proceeding to swim towards the ship wreckage.

Karamatsu could only groan to himself and squeeze his eyes shut momentarily before following suite, clearly reluctant.

When the two had reached the aligned row of gunports, Todomatsu turned himself upside down to view the inside of the ship through one of them. As the young prince did so, Karamatsu looked around warily, beginning to chew his bottom lip obsessively.

“Don’t you, uh…think it looks kind of damp in there?” The elder prince asked cautiously, causing Todomatsu to send him an expression which practically read both ‘shut up’ and ‘are you kidding me?’, clear enough for Karamatsu to laugh nervously at.

“Fine then,” Todomatsu sighed out, turning himself upright yet again, “If you’re so against it, I’ll go in, while you, Karamatsu nii-san, can stay here and watch for sharks.” He proposed with a smile, going through the gunpoint, not awaiting an answer.

“Yeah, okay! You go, and I’ll watch for--- _wait, **sharks?!**_ “ Karamatsu instantly cut himself off in shock, proceeding to swim through the gunpoint too, “ ** _Wait for me, brother!_** ” He called out, clutching to the youngest Matsuno's arm, causing Todomatsu to turn around with a smile.

“Geez, Karamatsu nii-san, you’re such a scaredy-fish. As the youngest sextuplet, I’m the one who’s meant to be acting like that!”

“ _…I’m not a scaredy-fish…_ ” Karamatsu muttered distastefully, although Todomatsu knew that he knew it was somewhat true.

“ ** _Are too._** ” Todomatsu replied, sticking his tongue out playfully.

“No, but seriously...do you think there might be any sharks around here?” Karamatsu asked warily.

“See, you’re a total scaredy-fish!”

“I am not! Do you have any idea what Osomatsu would do to me if you got hurt?!”

With the conversation cutting off abruptly, the two brothers looked around in awe at the dimly lit ship (a few broken and empty barrels scattered around), and Todomatsu wasted no time in swimming upwards and forwards, leaving Karamatsu to trail behind reluctantly as he looked around, clearly cautious.

“Isn’t this great, Nii-san?” Todomatsu asked, the excitement clearly laced in his whispering voice.

“Yeah, sure…this is…uh, great…” Karamatsu trailed off nervously, “Excitement, adventure…danger-lurking-around-every-corner— ** _AH!_** “

With the sound of a deafening crash, as well as his older brother’s scream, Todomatsu whipped his head around to look what had occurred behind him – Karamatsu had hit against a wooden beam which held up and supported the ship’s flooring above them, resulting in it to collapse. The elder prince had wasted no time into swimming around the wreck and crashing into Todomatsu, the two charging into the ship’s wall.

“Pft—Nii-san, are you sure you’re okay?!” Todomatsu asked in both worry and disbelief as he winced, one eye squeezed shut.

As the youngest Matsuno tried to steady himself, holding his laughter back for now, Karamatsu also seemed to be shaking slightly.

“Y-yeah, of course I’m fine! Why d’you ask, brother?” He replied with in question, resulting inTodomatsu to sigh out and shake his head with a smile.

“No, no reason,” He replied, “Come on, let’s go.” The younger prince urged, grabbing his brother’s wrist and dragging him along to explore what the collapsed floor above them had to offer.

When the two had swam into a particular room, Todomatsu’s eyes widened in shock at the shimmering silver object resting there before him.

“ ** _Oh my gosh!_** ” He gasped, instantly swimming up to it, picking it up, and inspecting it in utter awe, “Karamatsu nii-san, have you ever seen anything so wonderful in your entire life?!”

Karamatsu’s eyes lit up as he followed his brother, entranced by the shimmering object.

“Wow…how beautiful…” He breathed out, clearly impressed, “But, uh…what is it, exactly?” He inquired.

“No clue!” Todomatsu beamed in reply, putting it in his red bag strung over his shoulder, “But I think Jyushimatsu nii-san might!” He added on in reassurance, instantly proceeding to swim over to the other side of the room after another object had caught his eye.

Amongst it all, Karamatsu instantly felt shivers go down his spine as he heard an eerie rumbling from beyond the ship, and the boy couldn’t help but gulp nervously.

“U-Uhm, did you hear that, brother?” He asked.

Todomatsu, however, was far too busy inspecting the newly discovered brown, oddly-shaped object with a cocked eyebrow, muttering to himself ‘I wonder what this one is’.

Slowly turning his head around upon seeing a foreign shadow being projected on the floor, Karamatsu’s eyes widened in pure shock – as a large shark was on the other side of the window, staring him in the eyes, facial expression clearly showing malicious intent, the prince couldn’t help but scream loud enough to make Todomatsu squeak in fear, almost dropping the object (although it would merely float).

Without warning, the shark had then crashed through the window, and Karamatsu swam towards Todomatsu with clenched teeth, grabbing his hand before swimming upwards, pulling him up in the process – as Todomatsu let out panicked grunts, attempting to put the brown object in his red bag whilst swimming away from the shark (who wasn’t far behind at all), the creature pursuing the two prince’s was growling dangerously, its large body crashing into multiple things at a time.

Karamatsu swiftly made it through the gunport, urging his brother to hurry up and do the same. Todomatsu then gasped in surprise when he felt his body get caught on a large chip of wood sticking out of the ship’s flooring, and he tugged at his red bag repeatedly, beginning to panic.

As Karamatsu was about to go back through and help him out, the younger prince freed himself, just in time to miss the shark’s teeth.

The shark had then crashed through the flooring, and Todomatsu dashed through the gunport with heavy breaths, this time clinging to Karamatsu’s arm for dear life as his older brother guided him away from the graveyard at an impressive speed.

“...Heh, who’s the scaredy-fish now?”

“ _…Shut up, Shittymatsu nii-san!_ ”

* * *

As the sun was setting, Jyushimatsu was sat on a small piece of land in the middle of the ocean, passionately counting how many waves there were – of course, the numbers were minimal, as compared to the morning, they were far more tranquil. Ichimatsu was lying down by his younger brother, inspecting his tail as he made it move around in the air, one arm behind his head to cushion it, as the other rested on his stomach.

“AH!” Jyushimatsu called out spontaneously in recognition, beginning to wave his arms around, “Look, it’s Karamatsu nii-san! Ahahah! And Totty! Hey, over here!”

“Jyushimatsu, you’re too loud..” Ichimatsu muttered hazily, after jolting and being caught off guard by his younger brother's sudden shouting.

Ichimatsu didn’t bother to act upon the news, but Jyushimatsu’s eyes gleamed upon seeing their two brothers swimming over to them, water droplets falling from their damp, flat hair.

“Hey, brothers.” Karamatsu greeted with a smirk.

“Look at what we found, you two!” Todomatsu stated with a beam, far too excitedly.

Jyushimatsu blinked curiously at his younger brother, whilst Ichimatsu let out a sigh, before rolling over to lay on his chest, his arms crossed in front of him to cushion his head.

As Todomatsu plopped his red bag on the small piece of land, he proceeded to take the two newly discovered objects out, showing them off with a proud beam.

“Woah…” Ichimatsu muttered, eyes sparkling in curiosity for a split second as he stared down at the objects. Karamatsu blinked at his younger brother’s reaction in surprise, “What’s that look for, Shittymatsu? Die!”

Todomatsu simply laughed to himself at Ichimatsu's dishonesty, looking over at Jyushimatsu.

“Nii-san, Nii-san! What do you think these are?” The youngest prince inquired curiously.

“That one’s a Dinglehopper, and that one’s a Snarfblatt!” Jyushimatsu replied instantaneously, laughter following soon after.

“Oh, how interesting!” Todomatsu said with a smile, handing them to his elder brother, “So what’re they used for?”

“The Dinglehopper is for your hair!” Jyushimatsu replied, “Look, look! Humans do it like this, and---“ The boy cut himself off as he placed the silver object in his hair, twirling it around and pulling it out, “Voila! A perfect configuration of hair! Ahahah!”

“Oh! Wonderful, brother!” Karamatsu complimented, going as far as to clap at the demonstration.

“So what about the Snarfblatt?” Todomatsu pressed on in question, the smile not leaving his face.

“…Probably for music, right?” Ichimatsu inquired with a prolonged yawn, holding it in one hand as he stared at it blankly.

“You just blow through it like this!” Jyushimatsu beamed as he attempted to demonstrate once again, only to have sea water and sea weed bubble out of it - Todomatsu’s eyes widened in recognition.

“ ** _Music!_** ” Todomatsu called out, “ ** _Oh no, the concert!_ **_Osomatsu nii-san’s going to kill me!_ ” He groaned out, running a hand through his hair to ruffle it up violently.

“Wait a second, the concert was _today!?_ ” Karamatsu asked in shock.

“Heh, Shittymatsu, you should have seen Osomatsu nii-san’s face when he noticed that you weren't there. It was priceless.” Ichimatsu brought up with a smirk as he made eye contact with Karamatsu, causing the 2nd eldest to gulp nervously.

“Ahahah! Totty hadn’t even shown up for his musical debut, either! He annoyed Osomatsu nii-san!  _Way to go, Totty!_ ” Jyushimatsu beamed, clicking his fingers at the youngest.

“Well, good thing me and Jyushimatsu were sat by Osomatsu nii-san’s side,” Ichimatsu added on with a shrug, “We managed to calm him down quite a bit.”

“I’m not sure if we can say the same for Choromatsu nii-san, however!” Jyushimatsu replied. 

“He was waiting on you, y’know.” Ichimatsu informed, looking over at Todomatsu, eyes half lidded, "Oh, and so were your music classmates."

“Shit!” Todomatsu groaned out, facepalming momentarily, “I need to go and see them straight away! Thank you, Ichimatsu nii-san, Jyushimatsu nii-san!”

“ _Ah, hey, wait for me, Todomatsu!_ ”


	2. Chapter 2

“You know, Karamatsu, we're all meant to be sat together during these formal occasions.” Osomatsu began, “Especially if our youngest brother is the one performing on the stage!" He added on with a slight frown.

As Todomatsu was next to Karamatsu, the two floated before Osomatsu, who sat in his throne room, clearly unimpressed with the two - with the throne room being styled almost identically to the hall, there was merely an elevated throne, with two lamps (which were lit by Osomatsu's magic) on both sides of it.

With the youngest prince's eyes downcast as he was fiddling with his hands, Todomatsu couldn't help but internally scold himself for missing the concert - to be precise,  _his **own**_ concert, and his musical debut. Well, truthfully, he wasn't all that keen on performing, but he could never reveal such a thing to the king.

Choromatsu was floating by Osomatsu's side, looking as though he was about to spontaneously combust, due to the visible stress veins popping out of his head; it seemed as though he was holding his breath, too, oddly enough.

' _Even Karamatsu nii-san's getting scolded..._ ' Todomatsu continued on in thought to himself, letting out an inaudible sigh, ' _Geez, this is all my fault...I'll make it up to him later._ '

"The fact that you went off with Todomatsu, who was _meant_ to be performing in front of the entire kingdom with his music class, **_and_ ** Choromatsu’s help,” Osomatsu continued on, sending Todomatsu an abrupt accusatory look and reminder, “Has now left people with a bad impression of _you_!" He informed, looking back at Karamatsu, "That you don’t care about your siblings enough to attend these sorts of celebrations!” 

“I know," Karamatsu began weakly, "But---“ 

“Look, I'm sure that you had a perfectly valid reason to go off with Todomatsu. Since you're _also_ the eldest, and next in line if I pass away or give up the throne, you must have wanted to protect him, which I commend you for." Osomatsu interrupted with a sigh, "But next time, don't go along with what _he_ says - since it will probably conflict with what us sextuplets have going on, okay?" He asked, voice soft.

Todomatsu blinked in disbelief at Osomatsu - the prince then looked from the King to Karamatsu, to see his older brother in shock at first, but then give a frown, as well as rigid nod.

"Well, you're fine, then!" Osomatsu beamed, grinning, "Now!" He added on, looking from the 2nd eldest over to Todomatsu, expression hardening. 

Todomatsu jumped at the gesture, somewhat fearful, but irritated at the fact that he would be chewed out far more than Karamatsu - even if it  _was_  his fault.

"You know, I was looking forward to seeing you on stage, Totty." Osomatsu began.

"I know, but just hear me out, Osomatsu nii-san!" Todomatsu began, "It's just, uh---" The boy cut himself off, letting out mere stutters - surely this innocent act of his would lighten his punishment - maybe even get him off the hook, "That is to say---uhm...I'm sorry!" Todomatsu concluded, bowing his head, face flushing - Osomatsu's was just about to speak, until a voice interrupted him.

"This was meant to be my breakthrough!” Choromatsu called out abruptly, clearly hysterical - Todomatsu jumped at the gesture, quickly hiding behind Karamatsu, "My chance at showing the entire kingdom just how talented I am as a musical conductor! A chance to get Hashimoto Nyaa-Chan’s attention!” The 3rd eldest added on with a whine, before maintaining eye contact with Todomatsu, frowning, "And you’ve ruined it all!" He snapped, pointing at the young prince, "Your musical debut was meant to be huge! Just what were you _doing?!_ ”

“But it’s not his fault!” Karamatsu interjected, causing Choromatsu and Osomatsu to send him a sharp look, taking him aback, “See, we were exploring...then there was this ship wreckage we found," The 2nd eldest began in explanation, "Then this shark started chasing after us, and when we finally got up to the surface, we found Jyushimatsu and Ichimatsu resting on a piece of land in the middle of nowhere, and---…uh, yeah!”

Osomatsu twitched ever so slightly at the mention, expression hardening yet again – Todomatsu blinked worriedly at the gesture.

“ _You **what!?**_ ” Choromatsu asked in disbelief, holding his arms out for emphasis, “Don't you guys know--“

“Choromatsu,” Osomatsu interrupted sternly, “No one knows how dangerous being exposed to today’s surface is unless we tell them.” He informed, “If Ichimatsu and Jyushimatsu went up to the surface, then I guarantee that they, as well as others, have no clue.”

“...Wait, _what?_ ” Todomatsu asked, clearly bewildered as he looked between Osomatsu and Choromatsu, his brown eyes shimmering in worry, “What’s so dangerous about it?”

“ _…What’s going on, Osomatsu?_ ” Karamatsu asked after a few seconds, voice low, as though he knew what the king was about to say - Osomatsu’s eyes seemed heavy. 

“I was going to announce a proclamation at the end of Todomatsu’s musical debut,” Osomatsu revealed in reply, “But seeing as you and him never showed up, and it ended as soon as it began, I couldn’t – I felt as though everyone had to be present, and hear what I had to say.”

“The proclamation was going to be sent throughout The Seven Seas and to the other kingdoms in a day or so, but I guess we should do it tonight…right, Osomatsu nii-san? Just in case?” Choromatsu asked, causing Osomatsu to nod.

“Listen, Karamatsu, Todomatsu - being exposed to the surface is becoming increasingly dangerous – especially during the daytime. It’s fishing season to the humans right now, so they’re sailing a lot more.” The eldest Matsuno informed.

“…What?” Todomatsu asked in confusion, trying to absorb such a fact.

“A lot of the fish from the kingdom have gone missing – no doubt that soon, merpeople will go missing, too.” Osomatsu informed gravely, “That’s why I’ve created the proclamation that prohibits merpeople from going up to the surface.”

“Many are relocating to the deeper depths of the sea, since they fear for their lives.” Choromatsu added on, “We’re afraid they’re going to hunt us, just like the fish.”

“Wait a minute, but you can’t just _do_ that!” Todomatsu replied, as though the two had lost their minds.

Karamatsu merely pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out a sigh.

“ _And why not?_ ” Osomatsu asked, raising an eyebrow suspiciously.

“ _Because!_ We don’t know for definite if humans are the cause of all of this, right?” Todomatsu reasoned desperately, “We can’t just assume, and we’re all super careful, anyway! So----“

“Todomatsu, trust me, they’re barbarians! Humans bring nothing but trouble!” Osomatsu interrupted, “They could have seen you today, and then what? It would have been the end of you, Karamatsu, Ichimatsu, and Jyushimatsu!”

“Osomatsu, don’t you think that’s enough?” Karamatsu asked, “You’re overthinking it! And you never overthink!”

“As the eldest sextuplet and ruler of The Seven Seas, it’s my job to look after him, Karamatsu!” Osomatsu snapped, “He’s always defending them, but I’ve seen what these humans are capable of with my own two eyes! You really think I want to see my youngest brother, as well as you guys, being snared by a fish-eater’s hook? They’re dangerous!”

“But I was with him!” Karamatsu reasoned, “If I saw any sign of any danger, I would have taken care of him, Jyushimatsu, and Ichimatsu! Trust me, brother!”

“Even so, it’s too risky for us merpeople to be exposed to the surface…” Choromatsu said, “We never know what kind of tricks these humans have up their sleeves.”

“That’s right – that’s why, from now on, no more sneaking up to the surface.” Osomatsu stated in finality, “I mean it, Todomatsu.” He added on, sending the boy a sharp look, “Otherwise I won’t give you the freedom to swim wherever you want.”

“…I’m the youngest sextuplet, granted, but that doesn’t mean you can treat me like a child and single me out all the time, Osomatsu nii-san - _so could you cut it out?!_ ” Todomatsu snapped with a frown, fists clenched, “We’re all equals at 16 years old!”

“Oi, Todomatsu!” Choromatsu interjected with a frown. 

“As the eldest, whatever I say goes!” Osomatsu snapped back, “So if you don’t like it, then tough! Leave for all I care!” He added on, causing Todomatsu to frown even more at his reasoning.

“That’s not fair!—“

“I’m the one who rules the seas!”

“Well—“

“Mum and Dad trusted me with this position when they passed away!”

“But—“

“Meaning you have to obey my rules!”

“But if you would just  _listen_ to me, nii---“

“Ah, shut up already, Todomatsu!” Osomatsu interrupted in an abrupt snap, “I never want to hear anything about you going up to the surface again, or your complaints against my decisions! Is that clear?!”

With the king’s booming voice resounding throughout the entire palace, a tense silence following soon after, Todomatsu was about to retort, until he teared up, quickly turning around and swimming out of the throne room.

“Ah--wait, Todomatsu!” Karamatsu called out frantically, following after his younger brother.

Osomatsu had sat up properly, his arm extended out ever to slightly to tell Todomatsu to wait – the boy then let out a sigh, slumping back on his throne after seeing that the two had completely disappeared from sight.

“ ** _Ugh…_** ”

“You’ve worked hard, Osomatsu nii-san.” Choromatsu began, smiling as he patted the eldest Matsuno’s back.

“Guess I’ve gone through a character change myself, huh…” Osomatsu muttered, rubbing his temple, and pinching the bridge of his nose.

“For the better,” Choromatsu replied, “In Todomatsu’s case, his character change is…well…”

A few moments of silence had passed as he looked over at where the two princes had just exited.

“At any rate, we’ve all changed in some way since Mum and Dad…you know…” Choromatsu trailed off with his sentence awkwardly, before coughing repeatedly as he looked over at Osomatsu.

“…D’you think I was too hard on him?” Osomatsu asked worriedly, frowning.

“No, not at all,” Choromatsu insisted, “You were more fatherly than brotherly. It shows just how much more responsible you’ve become since claiming Dad’s title as King.”

Osomatsu let out a laugh.

“If that’s coming from you, then it reassures me.” He replied, causing Choromatsu to smile.

“Still, to think it’s been a year already…” The younger brother replied, “You claiming the throne at 15 years old…I was surprised – I was so sure you’d reject the position on the spot. You were the biggest troublemaker out of us sextuplets, after all.” He informed, reminiscing fondly at the memories they had as children.

“What can I say, I did it for our parents, _and_ you guys.” Osomatsu stated with a smile, shrugging.

“Still, we may all be the same age, but I just have _no clue_ where Todomatsu’s infatuation with the human world came from.” Choromatsu said whilst shaking his head.

“Must be a trait from Mum, I’m sure.” Osomatsu said in amusement, sniggering to himself, “We all maintained our own personalities at 15 years old, after all,” He added on - after a few seconds, the boy was lost in thought as he held his chin, “But knowing Totty…he’s definitely not going to listen to me after this…”

“I would keep him under tight control for now.” Choromatsu advised, “Not imprisonment, of course, since only a piece of trash would do that, but more like…have someone to keep watch over him.” He added on, “Although I know Karamatsu means well, I don’t think he’s the right one for the job...I mean, today proved just how unreliable he is when it comes to authority...he’s a real pushover, after all...” He continued on, causing Osomatsu’s eyes to gleam as he sat up, clicking his fingers.

“You’re right, Choromatsu!”

“I know I’m right – I’m always right.”

“Todomatsu needs constant supervision!”

“Without a doubt!”

“And you’re  _just_  the guy to do it!”

“…Huh?”

“You’re  _just_  the brother!”

* * *

“Geez, why do I always unnecessarily open my mouth…” Choromatsu muttered to himself with a sigh, swimming out of the throne room, “It’s bad enough that I have to keep my eye on Todomatsu, but Karamatsu nii-san always hangs around him…Ugh, what am I doing, looking out for my older _and_ younger brothers?” He asked himself, tilting his head.

The prince’s dialogue was then interrupted as he looked over to his left to see Todomatsu holding his red bag, and Karamatsu looking around suspiciously, before they both exchanged a determined nod, swimming off and out of the palace – with a cocked eyebrow, Choromatsu followed after them, hiding his presence.

‘ _What the hell are they up to…?_ ’

* * *

Within the deep, dark depths of the ocean lay the enormous decayed whale skeleton, home to the banished sea wizard – beyond the dimly lit entrance (which had pink steam emerging from the ocean floor), past the murky, eerie corridor (home to the millions of polyps which all groaned and moaned in unison, their voices resounding throughout the entire vicinity), the main hall was currently occupied by the half squid-half human wizard.

As he looked through the bubble orb he had created through his magic, it hovering above the large cauldron located in the pit in the center of the hall, the man was lazing around on his throne which hung from the ceiling, tentacles curling, taking up most of the space on it.

With a smirk, a hand on his cheek, the man reached over to his side, grabbing a live shrimp, which was shivering in fear – after the deafening sound of a crunch resounded throughout the room, the man couldn’t help but laugh as his eyes gleamed in amusement, intently staring at the orb, which had just presented him with the image of Todomatsu and Karamatsu.

“Well, well, well…Osomatsu’s youngest brother, huh?” The man mused to himself with a smile, “Now wouldn’t it be a shame if something happened to him! Right, Totoko-Chan?” He asked.

“Yes, it would, Tougou-Sama.” A voice replied, causing the man to smile even more.

Far away from the lair was a girl, whom was hiding behind a particular coral reef with a smile, giggling to herself – as her eyes remained fixated on Todomatsu swimming past the coral reef, Karamatsu following suite, her brown hair was flowing freely, her eyelashes being batted repeatedly, and her brown eyes were glowing, clearly enchanted by magic. With her murky green tail, belonging to that of an eel, moving back and forth, the girl awaited any orders.

“Yes, yes…hmm,” The man mused, “Look at how healthy he is…how full of life he looks…” He said to himself, somewhat entranced as he stared, “And here I am, wasted away to practically nothing…and starving…” The man added on in irritation, looking down at his body, turning himself upside down on the throne, his brown hair hovering, “In my day, we had luxurious feasts, back when I used to live in the palace!” He beamed, grabbing yet another shrimp, the crunch resounding throughout the room yet again, “That is, until that little brat Osomatsu banished and exiled me!” He snapped, “The little bastard caught onto my plan...becoming the king as soon as his parents passed away…” He added on, before kissing his teeth.

“ ** _TOTOKO!_** ” Tougou snapped, causing the girl to jump in shock, “I want you to keep a close eye on this pretty little prince…” he ordered, causing Totoko to smirk, “ _He may be the key to Osomatsu’s undoing._ ”

* * *

As Todomatsu and Karamatsu swam and made their way, not having anything to say to one another, the two approached a large cavern with a woven layer of seagrass covering the entrance.

After they looked around for a few solid seconds, Todomatsu moved it out of the way, going inside, Karamatsu following in after him.

When Choromatsu had approached the cave, he cocked an eyebrow, tilting his head.

‘ _What in the world…?_ ’ He thought to himself, proceeding to float even closer towards it, trying to be as silent as he possibly could – after moving a small amount of the seagrass out of the way, the prince’s eyes widened in pure shock at the sight, and he couldn’t help but gasp, quickly covering his mouth.

Within the cavern, there were hollowed out shelves, all of which were filled from left to right in a circular fashion with Todomatsu’s discoveries related to the human world – as he looked up, Choromatsu saw there was a hole at the top of the long cavern, enabling him to see the night sky through the ocean.

There was nothing but the pure sound of ocean water reverberating throughout the cavern, as Karamatsu and Todomatsu were sat on the ocean floor – Karamatsu proceeded to look over worriedly at his little brother, who was staring down at his two newly discovered objects, facial expression that of melancholy.

“Todomatsu…uh…” Karamatsu began, “Are you okay?” He asked.

“I just want Osomatsu nii-san to listen to me for once…like he used to before Mum and Dad passed away..." Todomatsu muttered, “How can humans be dangerous?” He asked, looking into Karamatsu’s eyes - as though he knew it was the true, but refused to admit it, the boy inquired desperately, “It’s a lie, right? How could a world that makes such wonderful things…be bad? I mean, I’ve never seen a human up close, so I can’t talk, but... _I’m sure they’re not bad!_ ”

Karamatsu stared silently at his brother, before sighing out.

“I’m not sure, Todomatsu…” He replied, “The fish have gone missing...we should trust Osomatsu’s word for now…I’m sure there’s a reason behind all of this…for our safety.”

Todomatsu merely let out a sigh, placing the dinglehopper and snarfblatt on the floor, proceeding to swim around, humming to himself silently.

Soon enough, the hum turned into pure musical lyrics, and Todomatsu was looking around the cavern with a smile, reminiscing about how he found the many human objects, Karamatsu watching on with a smile.

_“Life is so tough,_

_Under the sea,_

_How will I ever show the true me?_

_Wouldn’t you think I’m the guy,_

_The guy who might,_

_Become king?_

_Inside this cove,_

_Are stories I’ve told,_

_Except that I haven’t,_

_And they’ve all become old,_

_‘Look at my tail it’s so pink’,_

_‘I know!’_

_How I love to sing!_

_I’ve got objects over number twenty,_

_I could truly open up a store,_

_‘You want this antique? It’s only a penny!’_

_But who cares,_

_No big deal,_

_Down here’s a bore,_

_I wanna be where the people are,_

_I wanna see,_

_Wanna see ‘em dancin’,_

_Walkin’ around on those –_

_Feet,_

_I’ve always been told that I am a star,_

_But I really wanna try jumpin’, dancin’,_

_Walkin' around to my own –_

_Beat,_

_Up where they walk,_

_Up where they run,_

_Up where they stay all day in the sun,_

_Wanderin' free,_

_Wish I could be,_

_Part of that world,_

_And I'm ready to know what the people know,_

_Ask 'em my questions,_

_And get some answers,_

_What's a fire and why does it –_

_Burn?_

 

_When's it my turn?_

_Wouldn't I love,_ _  
_

_Love to explore that shore up above?_ _  
_

_Out of the sea,_

_Wish I could be,_

_Part of that world…”_

As Todomatsu breathed silently, having reached the top of the cavern, his arm was extended out to reach through the hole.

After nothing but the sounds of the ocean once again, the boy sunk down to the bottom of the cavern, letting out a disheartened sigh, not taking his eyes off of the top  – Karamatsu placed a supportive arm around the boy’s shoulder with a smile, as he, too, looked up.

“ ** _Just what the hell is this!?_** ”

The immediate hollering caused Todomatsu to let out a squeak of fear as he turned himself around, and Karamatsu shot up, swimming frantically all over the place – upon seeing Choromatsu stood there after having moved the seagrass out of the way, the two prince’s eyes widened in shock.

“Choromatsu nii-san!” Todomatsu exclaimed, thinking his luck was the absolute worst.

“B-brother, just stay calm...” Karamatsu reassured, swimming up to him. Choromatsu merely looked down at Todomatsu, radiating anger.

“Todomatsu---what is thi….how could you— _what is all of this?!_ ” He asked in pure disbelief, holding his arms out, and gesturing to the cabin in its entirety.

“It’s just…uh…my collection?” Todomatsu asked with a small smile, shrugging.

“Oh, right, right, I see…just your collection,” Choromatsu said, returning the smile as he nodded his head – The elder prince then instantly went back to frowning, causing Karamatsu to back away, “ ** _If Osomatsu nii-san found out about this place---_** “

“Oh, please don’t tell Osomatsu nii-san!” Todomatsu begged in interruption, “He’s now the only one who doesn’t know I collect human objects!” The prince informed, “He’s always telling us all not to touch anything related to the humans under here, since he thinks they’ll enter the sea in an attempt to retrieve their objects, and hunt us down in the process!”

“Too right they will! That was _exactly_ his point! And wait, you mean Ichimatsu and Jyushimatsu knew about this, too!?” Choromatsu retorted in question, looking around and gesturing to the cavern, holding his arms out - Todomatsu could only wince, “Get rid of all of this ** _now!_** ”

“He can’t just do that, you know!” Karamatsu snapped, “He’s spent ages collecting all of this!”

“Come on, you two, we’re going home!” Choromatsu snapped, ignoring Karamatsu, “I won’t tell Osomatsu if you promise to just give this up, Todomatsu – have some rest, think things through---“

The three princes were then startled by the sudden sound of rumbling, cutting off the argument, and a dark shadow travelling over Todomatsu’s cavern from the top.

“…What  _is_ that sound?” Choromatsu asked worriedly, raising his head up to look at the top of the cavern – Karamatsu and Todomatsu followed the gesture, and Todomatsu couldn’t help but gasp, instantly swimming out of the cavern.

“Hey, wait---Todomatsu!” Choromatsu said, attempting to grab the boy’s wrist.

After exchanging a look with Karamatsu, the two elder brothers followed after him worriedly.

As he emerged onto surface of the ocean, his hair damp and slightly dishevelled, water droplets falling yet again, Todomatsu moved his fringe out of the way whilst he stared at the sight, wide-eyed.

The night sky had stars scattered all over it – however, the extremely large ship which had just travelled over his cavern is what caught his attention – fireworks were repeatedly being set off, shooting out of the ship, and exploding with beautiful colours, making it seem as though glitter was raining down.

“Just like Osomatsu nii-san’s magic…” Todomatsu whispered, the breathlessness easily distinguishable in his voice.

The boy had then begun to laugh in pure delight, unable to tear his eyes away.

Just then, both Karamatsu and Choromatsu joined him, and after staring at their younger brother laughing with a cocked eyebrow, their attention was then directed towards the ship - upon witnessing the sight, the two gasped in horror.

“No, no, no, not good, not good at all!” Choromatsu said in a panic, “We can’t be seen by them!” He informed, “Come on, let’s go!”

“I agree, it’s too risky!” Karamatsu replied with a nod of his head.

However, Todomatsu had instantly begun to swim down into the sea, and jump out repeatedly, heading for the ship - as though he wasn't a royal merprince, tied down by rules and responsibilities, but a free dolphin.

“ _H-Hey, Todomatsu! Todomatsu, come back here, please!_ ” Choromatsu pleaded desperately. 

Of course, the pleading was a futile effort.


	3. Chapter 3

The young prince found himself swimming closer and closer towards the human construction, eyes sparkling in curiosity as he leaped in and out of the sea.

After approaching close enough, Todomatsu slowly floated towards the side of the ship, undoubtedly cautious - it was almost like the sudden appearance of this mysterious construction was a sign for him, or a calling of some sort.

The men who were boarded upon the ship were now fully audible as they all laughed and chattered away passionately, making the youngest sextuplet feel somewhat tense, but courageous enough to act at the same time. With the ship towering over him, the merprince gradually looked up at its sails, gulping silently - he grabbed onto a small surface which poked out of the ship, pulling himself up to sit on it, whilst his pink tail curled in the process.

After doing so, Todomatsu curiously peeked through the railings of the ship - he could see young men scattered all over the setting, playing their musical instruments and dancing, clapping along to the music's rhythm. The boy couldn’t help but marvel at the sight, turning his head left and right rapidly, as well as darting his eyes all over the place to take as much as he could in, so that he could savour the memory. 

' _Wow...so these are humans, huh..._ ' He thought to himself, ' _I wish I could hang out with them..._ ' He added on, his doe-like eyes sparkling in longing as he smiled, cheeks pink.

That was when a group of the young men had crowded around one particular person, yelling out celebratory cheers and making quite the fuss - the boy couldn't help but witness it with a confused expression.

After moving his head to rest in different positions, in order to see who this person was, undoubtedly intrigued, Todomatsu felt a sudden tightening in his chest - upon seeing the group move out of the way to reveal a man with slick brown hair, slightly dishevelled but poshly swept to the side, the man's half-lidded eyes enabled an alluring air about him. 

However, Todomatsu was far more distracted by the man's smile - it was the most beautiful thing the prince had ever seen; far more than the objects which came from above the surface, and he could admit such a thing without wavering.

Feeling his face heat up significantly at such a realisation, Todomatsu merely stared at the charming young man for a solid few minutes whilst blinking slowly, before smiling toothily to himself - as the man chuckled at the group crowding him, the sudden appearance of an animal with soft orange fur, whiskers, and pointy ears, made him beam with joy as he crouched down swiftly to scoop the purring animal up and into his arms. As he had done so, Todomatsu took the time to notice  that the guy’s legs were long, he was broad-shouldered, and  ** _shit, he was basically perfect._  **The animal he held in his arms knew it, too, it’s doting smile getting the point across.

Todomatsu found himself growing even more red-faced at the simple outfit the young man was wearing - a mere white-collared shirt, with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, showing his forearm muscles off. The young prince couldn't help but quietly sigh out dreamily, his eyes now half-lidded as he leaned forward through the ship's railings, crossing his arms to cushion his tilted head. 

" ** _HEY, TOTTY!  I saw Karamatsu nii-san and Choromatsu nii-san waitin' for you over there! They didn't notice me, but seemed worried about you, so I came over to say hi! What'cha doing?!"_**   A voice called out in question, causing Todomatsu to sit up straight and back away, turning around abruptly in shock.

After seeing Jyushimatsu floating below him in the ocean (mouth wide open, and eyebrows raised), the young prince let out a sigh of relief – he then blinked in realisation, just barely spotting Choromatsu and Karamatsu floating in the distance – knowing that they were currently assuming the worst, and far too immersed in arguing with each other (over who was more of the pushover when it came to disciplining Todomatsu), the boy frowned slightly, gesturing to Jyushimatsu with his hand.

"Shh, Jyushimatsu nii-san! Be quiet or the humans will hear you!" Todomatsu snapped in a hushed whisper, turning his head back around to peer at the men on the ship - especially the frightfully attractive one he was busy gawking at before – the guy was now jumping around the ship as he played a musical instrument flawlessly, the smile not leaving his face whilst the animal was now rubbing against his leg, still purring.

"Ooh, I see!" The elder prince beamed with a click of his fingers - he pulled himself up to join Todomatsu on the small wooden surface, wiggling for his younger brother to move over and make some room for him, "We're on an undercover mission; **_WE'RE OUT TO DISCOVER_** \---" He was then interrupted as Todomatsu slapped his hand over his mouth, causing the elderly prince to let out muffled laughter, his yellow tail flailing around.

After sighing out in exhaustion, Todomatsu let him go, directing his attention towards the man yet again, unable to stop looking at him.

“I've never seen a human up so close before..." He informed in awe, subconsciously letting out another dreamy sigh, "He's not bad to look at, isn't he?” 

“EH, REALLY?! WHICH ONE?!” Jyushimatsu called out, turning his head left and right in excitement as he inspected the human men.

“ _Shh!_ Geez, keep it down already, Jyushimatsu nii-san!" Todomatsu whined in reply, tugging on his brother's arm, "Look, the one playing that instrument…” He muttered bashfully as his head was lowered, pointing the man out, "He's perfect...It irritates me."

After a few seconds of staring at the guy, Todomatsu sneaking nervous glances at him for his opinion, Jyushimatsu tilted his head with a laugh, his head turned to look at his younger brother.

"Totty, you like him?" He asked bluntly.

It wasn't asked in a hostile or obnoxious tone; just in a very Jyushimatsu-like way. And, of course, Todomatsu spluttered at being asked such a thing, almost choking to death on his own spit. As his eyes were spiralling in embarrassment, the young prince was practically mimicking his pink tail skin-colour wise.

"O-of course not!" He snapped, "The hell kind of question is that, Nii-san!?"  He asked, fists clenched.

"Well, it's just 'cause you've never had a girlfriend, despite going out with loads of them!” Jyushimatsu replied with a laugh, “So I just assumed none of them fitted your taste...especially in regards to your belly button fetish!" He added on with a beam, holding his hand out for emphasis.

"S-Shut up!" Todomatsu replied, clearly embarrassed as he pouted, "Just because I haven't got a girlfriend doesn't mean that I _like_ him!" He informed bitterly.

" _Then, then! Why has this guy grabbed your attention?_ " Jyushimatsu asked curiously, followed by another laugh.

"That's cause---" Todomatsu cut himself off, turning his head back around to see what the charming young man was doing.

The man was now leaning against the ship's wooden railings (only a few inches away from the two hidden merprinces), looking up at the night sky with a bright smile, as though all was right with the world. The animal had joined him as it rested on top of the ship’s railings, its tail swaying back and forth whilst its head was raised.

Todomatsu felt slightly moved at the simple action, and the realisation had struck.

" _...Oh my god... I'm in love..."_

" _Ahahah, way to go, Totty!_ "

Before Todomatsu could reply, he was jolted at the sound of an elderly man speaking above everyone else.

“ _Everyone, everyone! Can I have your attention-dasu?_ ” Dekapan called out across the ship, coughing behind his balled up fist composedly, the other resting behind his back in a posh manner.

As the men across the ship had all gathered around in under a minute, happily chatting away silently amongst themselves, wondering what it was, Atsushi tore his gaze away from the sky, heaving himself off of the railing with a smile.

"What is it, Professor?" He asked, a slight laugh leaving his mouth whilst he made his way towards the man, the animal jumping down gracefully and following the boy by his side.

"As you all know, it is our beloved Prince Atsushi's birthday today-dasu," Dekapan began excitedly, resulting in the men's roaring cheers to echo, a few of them patting Atsushi's back with huge grins plastered on their faces.

Whilst Todomatsu witnessed the scene unfolding before him, he widened his gleaming eyes in shock, his cheeks flushing all over again. Jyushimatsu merely kept quiet as he stared at what was happening.

 _'He's a prince, too...'_ Todomatsu thought to himself with a smile, such a fact enabling him to think that they already had a lot in common, _'And he's called Atsushi-kun...the name suits him...'_

"And so, it is only natural we present him with a very large, very expensive birthday gift!" Dekapan continued on, gesturing to the sudden appearance of the six foot object draped in cloth, with a small, red bow plastered on the front of it, resting next to him.

As Atsushi stared up at his gift wide-eyed, there were many murmurs of shock and cheers of celebration, as well as impressed whistles - Jyushimatsu's eyes were also sparkling in curiosity, Todomatsu couldn't help but notice, and the young prince himself wondered what it could possibly be.

After a few seconds, Atsushi grinned as he punched his adviser's shoulder playfully.

"Aw, Professor, you shouldn't have," He said, Dekapan merely jumping in shock at the gesture, before coughing behind his hand yet again.

"I know," He replied, nodding at two of the men to reveal what was hidden beneath the cloth - as they did so, the man couldn't help but smile, "Happy birthday, Atsushi-Kun!"

After the unveiling of the gift, there were a few gasps of shock, others proceeding to cheer even more – Todomatsu was one of the ones who gasped, but made sure to keep himself hidden and quiet. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his life, of course, causing his face to flush yet again. Jyushimatsu’s mouth proceeded to open yet again in utter awe as he, too, gasped.

However, Atsushi squinted his eyes at the six foot statue of himself made out of stone, whilst the animal by his side had begun to hiss violently, its fur standing on end – with the pose being very ‘leader-like’ and ‘heroic’, the statue of the prince held a sword and shield in hand, whilst he wore a cape and crown.

Atsushi couldn’t help but let a few nervously forced (yet grateful) laughs escape from his mouth as he rubbed the back of his neck, his other hand patting Dekapan’s shoulder.

“Gee, Professor…it’s really great…it really is…” He managed to force out, not tearing his eyes off of the extravagantly unrealistic portrayal of himself.

“Yes, I had it commissioned myself-dasu!” Dekapan said with a proud laugh.

_“ **Gee, Professor, what a shitty gift.** ”_

A silence had suddenly overtaken the entire ship, and Todomatsu squinted his eyes, peering around, wondering who would say such a thing. The young prince then noticed Atsushi was sweating profusely, laughing in an exaggerated, abrupt manner as he motioned to scoop the animal by his side up yet again. Dekapan’s jaw was fully open as he stared from the animal to Atsushi.

 _“ESP Kitty, what things are you saying?!”_ Atsushi beamed nervously, causing it to purr.

 ** _“Shit, I’m embarrassed the Professor found out I hate the gift.”_** It replied.

“ ** _No way---_** “ Todomatsu cut himself off in shock, covering his mouth to avoid being heard by the men on the ship, “ _It can talk!?_ ” He whispered in shock, causing Jyushimatsu to laugh in amusement, clutching his stomach, “It’s not funny, Jyushimatsu nii-san! Why was it silent this entire time!? And why’s it so rude?!” He added on in question, causing his brother to shrug.

“It—it’s quite alright-dasu,” Dekapan replied with a nervous laugh, “It seems the side effects of the ‘understand how a cat feels’ serum still hasn’t worn off on the little one…w-well, accidents happen in a lab at times…” He informed with yet another weak laugh.

 ** _“Or I’m just a failure of a Professor – well, more like a joke.”_** ESP Kitty interjected.

Dekapan’s face instantly heated up as he motioned to chase after the cat, ESP Kitty having a look of pure horror on his face, until Atsushi held his pet up with one hand whilst the other pushed against Dekapan’s chest lightly, a stern expression on his face.

“He can’t help it, Professor,” Atsushi said, “Don’t take it out on him.”

As though snapped out of a trance, Dekapan’s eyes widened, and the man coughed abruptly, before nodding.

“I’m sorry, I seemed to have gotten ahead of myself-dasu.” He replied, causing Atsushi to smile, placing the cat down on the floor, resulting in it to dart all over the place, “Although, I must say, it _was_ ideal for the statue to be you wedding present…?” The man inquired, one eyebrow raised to interrogate the prince.

Todomatsu blinked at the sudden subject change, somewhat satisfied he now knew what a cat was, and didn’t notice the men on the ship going back to doing their own thing, some crowding around the gift, whilst Dekapan and Atsushi walked around the ship together. ESP Kitty seemed to have jumped up on the ship's railings once again, yawning ever so slightly.

“ _Oh, come on, Professor!_ ” Atsushi replied with a roll of his eyes, “You’re not going to bug me about this on my _birthday_ , are you?” He asked.

“Atsushi-Kun, it’s not just me-dasu! The entire kingdom just wants you to be happily settled down with the right---....person!” Dekapan replied in assurance.

“Well, these things take time! I mean…” Atsushi’s sentence trailed off – after looking down at the floor for a few seconds, the prince made his way back towards the ship's railings where Todomatsu and Jyushimatsu had hidden themselves behind, “He---...I mean... _She_...she's out there somewhere, I just…I just haven’t found her yet...” He muttered, looking out into the distance.

The waves seemed to be becoming more prominent sound-wise.

“...Maybe you haven’t been looking hard enough-dasu…” Dekapan replied with a small, fatherly smile, proceeding to place an arm on Atsushi's shoulder, “Or in the right _place_ …” 

As Todomatsu listened to the two men and parts of their conversation (they were speaking relatively quietly), he couldn’t help but catch a slight glimpse of Atsushi’s hands resting over the railing, as well as his chest – the sudden urge to just reach out and hold the human prince’s hand tugged at Todomatsu’s heartstrings, until Jyushimatsu tapped on his younger brother’s shoulder, merely shaking his head at the boy, knowing what he was thinking.

After a few seconds of staring his older brother in the eyes, Todomatsu couldn’t help but comply as he looked down at his swaying tail in melancholy, pouting slightly.

 _‘This sucks...’_ He thought to himself.

“Just what is that supposed to mean, Professor?” Atsushi asked curiously, causing Dekapan to turn his head away with a slight smile.

“You’ll understand in time, Atsushi-Kun.” The elderly man replied, “The realisation will hit you like lightning-dasu.”

As if on cue, there was a sudden, low rumble coming from the distance – the sound was loud enough to cause all of the music to die down, as well as the men’s conversations whilst they stared out at sea, undoubtedly uneasy. There was nothing but the sounds of the waves - the men then proceeded to mutter amongst one another, some of them nodding their heads, deciding to jog over and tie the ropes up in an attempt to steer the ship back home. Atsushi cocked an eyebrow, heaving himself off of the edge, worry laced in his voice.

“…We should probably head back home, huh?” He asked Dekapan, “Seems like Osomatsu-sama isn’t in a friendly-type mood anymore.” The prince added on with a slight, amused chuckle to mask his worry up, resulting in Dekapan to squint his eyes sceptically at him.

“Yes, I think that would be best-dasu..”

Todomatsu’s eyes widened in shock at the mention of Osomatsu, as did Jyushimatsu’s. The youngest Matsuno instantly turned his head around to look at his older brother, mouthing a frantic _‘how does he know about Osomatsu nii-san!?’_ , causing Jyushimatsu to shrug, shaking his head whilst his eyebrows were raised – the yellow-tailed merman instantly began gesturing for them to take their leave now, as the persistent waves were now crashing together, somewhat violently enough to put one on edge. There was now no sign of Karamatsu or Choromatsu, either.

“ ** _Secure the rigging!_** ” One man suddenly called out through cupped hands, clearly panicked – Atsushi instantly widened his eyes in shock, darting towards the rope which lay on the ship floor instinctively.

Without warning, raindrops had begun to fall down lightly one by one, and within a few seconds, they came crashing down, mixing with the sound of thunder and lightning, resulting in strong gusts of wind to make the ship lean to the side whilst it moved – all of the men were now calling out to one another whilst some were barking orders, others climbing up the masts, tying rope and preparing safety boats.

Todomatsu stayed rigidly sat on the wooden platform, unable to move, shaking in fear at the loud sounds – Jyushimatsu noticed the young prince’s mannerisms and quickly grabbed his younger brother’s hand, pulling on it.

“ ** _T-Totty! We’ve gotta go!_** ” He urged, before the largest wave the two Matsuno’s had ever witnessed towered over and overtook the ship, resulting in Jyushimatsu to fall off of the wooden platform, as did Todomatsu, the two landing in the ocean with a loud crash.

Abruptly snapping out of his fear, Todomatsu quickly emerged onto the ocean surface yet again, fringe flat as he had begun looking around for Jyushimatsu, Choromatsu, and Karamatsu, pure worry written all over his facial expression – his older brothers were nowhere to be found, and the boy squinted his eyes through the rainstorm, attempting to catch a glimpse of anything.

“ _Jyushimatsu nii-san!_ _Karamatsu nii-san! Choromatsu nii-san!”_ He called out, “ _Where are you?!_ ”

The men’s shouts and orders managed to be heard over the thunder and lightning, causing Todomatsu to turn around and witness the ship riding on a high wave. After the wave had curved over and into itself, the ship settling onto the ocean surface (yet leaning on its side) yet again, Atsushi was busy pulling the steering wheel, eyebrows knitted together in both concentration and worry, for its lack of cooperation made it difficult to control the ship.

Then, all at once, the beam of lightning hit the boat’s multiple sails, ripping through the materials, resulting in a raging fire to start – the men all called out in horror, going back to their screams, and telling one another to get the safety boats out. Todomatsu merely looked up at the sight in shock, worrying about the men (primarily Atsushi), and what he could do to help.

Atsushi ran a hand through his wet hair to get it out of his eyes, peering in front of him – the prince then widened his eyes in shock.

“ _There’s a rock ahead, too!_ ” He warned the men, pointing at the looming sight, causing them to all stare in realisation, “ ** _Look out!_** ”

However, it was far too late - as the ship crashed, sending the screaming men flying off and plunging into the sea, Atsushi following suite, Todomatsu proceeded to swim at a distance away from the men in the ocean, wanting to avoid being spotted.

Whilst the panic only seemed to grow more and more, Atsushi emerged from the ocean, hair soaking as he instantly grabbed Dekapan by the collar, swimming over to the safety boats which the men were climbing into. Amongst all of this, Atsushi’s birthday present had sunk down to the bottom of the ocean, its existence being entirely forgotten.

“You okay, Professor Dekapan?!” Atsushi inquired worriedly, causing Dekapan to cough a few times, before nodding repeatedly – the men all sighed in relief, until Atsushi looked around in pure panic.

“Where is he?!” He asked in a hectic manner, causing the men on the boat to send him panicked questioning looks, “ ** _ESP Kitty?!_** ” He elaborated, resulting in one of the men to point back up at the ship and exclaim a _‘look!’_ – Atsushi looked up at the ship, jaw hanging open to see ESP Kitty’s paws wrapped around the ship’s mast as the animal was struggling to hold on, meowing weakly, yet persistently. It was dangerously cornered by the fire below it, as well as above it, due to the sails.

“ESP Kitty! WH---How did you get up there?!” Atsushi called out, before clenching his fists, diving into the water yet again without a second thought.

“ATSUSHI-KUN!” Dekapan called out, making a futile effort to reach out and stop the boy. Todomatsu blinked in shock, mouth open as he was taken aback by the prince’s actions.

 As Atsushi swam as fast as he could, climbing up the ship, the prince found himself running through the fire with multiple coughs, covering his mouth – as he jumped up the ship’s stairs, he looked up at the mast ESP Kitty was hanging from, holding his arms out for his pet.

“ _ESP Kitty, jump!_ ” He called out over the thunder and rain, “ _It’s okay, I’ll catch you! Don’t worry!_ ” he reassured, the sounds of the ship creaking ringing through his ears, ready to break at any given moment.

The cat proceeded to meow repeatedly, squeezing its eyes shut, before it spoke shakily.

“ ** _I-I’ll catch you!_** ” It replied, letting go of the mast and jumping into Atsushi’s arms, meowing yet again.

After wincing at the abrupt action, Atsushi proceeded to pet the cat with a grin, before holding him close to his chest with a determined frown, looking straight ahead – the fire was blazing and intimidating; almost like it wanted to envelop the prince.

However, he proceeded to dart through the ship yet again, quickly leaning over the edge and handing ESP Kitty to Dekapan, the men all looking up at him worriedly. Noticing a particular occurrence, the boy then hurriedly turned his head around to see that the tallest mast was fully destroyed, and that it was about to fall on top of him.

Atsushi then leaped out of the way, the deafening sound of the mast crashing into the ship floor being heard above the rain and lightning. The men all called out in shock, wanting to help the prince, but knowing that they were powerless against nature.

As he lay on the floor, the prince sat up with clenched fists and teeth, blinking in the sudden realisation that his leg was now stuck through the chipped ship floor. Tugging at his leg instantaneously, the boy let out a few stressed grunts, looking up to keep his eye on the other two masts which threatened to fall down at any moment.

Just then, the fire had reached far enough to the explosives hidden in the ship, and as it reacted with the powder, there was a deafening explosion, as well as the sounds of multiple fireworks going off, resulting in the ship to be toppled over, multiple parts of it flying in different directions as smoke emerged from the wreckage, a fire still present.

“ ** _ATSUSHI-KUN!_** ” Dekapan called out wide-eyed, the men merely staring in shock.

Whilst Todomatsu witnessed the explosion, sucking in a quick breath, eyebrows curved upwards, and his distress reaching its peak, the boy clenched his fists, diving under the sea instantaneously, before emerging in the middle of the wreckage, flipping his hair to the side as he looked around for Atsushi in persistence. At this point, he didn’t care if the men saw him – Atsushi’s life was at risk, and the fact that the waves were still crashing into each other meant all the more reason to find him as soon as possible. It also seemed that the waves had caused the men to be drifted far away from the wreckage on the safety boats.

The ocean had begun to bubble due to the explosion, and barrels were floating along, as well as lengthy pieces of rope which merely brushed against Todomatsu’s stomach, the young prince himself being sure not to get his tail caught in between them.

Then, as though by some miracle, the prince turned his head around to see Atsushi’s eyes were closed as he was leaning over a piece of chipped wood – even during a time like this, Todomatsu couldn’t help but waver for a split second at the prince’s beauty – the way his eyelashes were short in comparison to Todomatsu’s, yet had a slight curve to them, his drenched clothes showing a glimpse of his chest through the fabric, the way his hair was soaking yet slicked back – The merprince instantly bit down on his lip, swimming over to the human prince as fast as his tail could take him.

Atsushi then slipped off of the chipped wood, sinking into the ocean – Todomatsu’s lips parted at such a realisation as he quickly dived deep into the sea yet again, merely seeing Atsushi’s back – the boy then put his hands underneath the taller guy’s armpits, pulling him up persistently, until they both emerged on the ocean surface yet again, the fireworks still being heard amongst it all.

* * *

“ ** _Oi, Todomatsu!_** ” Ichimatsu spat menacingly, “ _Jyushimatsu came to find me as soon as he separated from you! Me and him have been searching everywhere for you, Choromatsu nii-san, as well as Shittymatsu all night!”_ He informed with a frown, the anger practically spilling out of his mouth as he swam closer, fists clenched, “I know you swam up to the ship to look at the humans, only to get caught up in the middle of a storm, you fucking idiot!” He growled, “That could have been the end of you guys! What the _fuck_ do you think you’re doing, jumping into such a stupidly dangerous situation, and dragging your older brothers into it with you!? If Osomatsu nii-san found out about this----Ah, geez! He also made a proclamation which prohibits us from going up to the surface, telling us about the risks of contact with humans, and announced it when you guys all disappeared - the news has spread like wildfire! _Do you have any clue what’s--_ “

The purple-tailed prince then paused abruptly, cocking an eyebrow at the sight with squinted eyes. The sky was a slight murky grey, with a few seagulls crying out, and the sun was threatening to reveal itself at any given moment, signifying the next day. With Jyushimatsu following behind Ichimatsu, laughing nervously with a meek ‘calm down, Ichimatsu nii-san – at least all three of them are okay’, Choromatsu (with Karamatsu floating by his side) then let out a sigh, placing a hand on Ichimatsu’s shoulder.

“ _Ichimatsu, that’s enough_ \- we all know about Osomatsu nii-san’s proclamation…” The 3 rd eldest muttered, "And I've already chewed Todomatsu out, so you don't need to say any more than you currently have…he hasn’t spoken a word since we’ve found him.”

‘ _Man, I’ve never heard him talk this much..._ ' Choromatsu couldn’t help but think to himself in slight amusement, before blinking in realisation, looking over at Jyushimatsu.

“Wait, did _you_ know about the proclamation beforehand, Jyushimatsu?” Choromatsu asked, causing the 5 th eldest to shake his head with a smile.

“Nuh-uh, no idea!” Jyushimatsu beamed in reply, "Ichimatsu nii-san told me about it when we were searching for you guys!"

“Oh, I see…” Choromatsu replied with a nod, silently sighing – it figured – Jyushimatsu was usually in a world of his own, so he was slightly unaware of catching on at times.

“How the hell did---“ Ichimatsu began, turning his head to look at Choromatsu, who had a clear look of distress on his face, his arms now folded over his chest.

“It’s only natural I know about a proclamation before it’s announced,” Choromatsu informed, looking at Ichimatsu, “I _am_ Osomatsu nii-san’s right-hand man, after all, and Karamatsu nii-san seemed to have caught on, too.” He added on.

“Totty didn’t take too kindly to the news..." Karamatsu explained.

"He swam off with Karamatsu nii-san here, and I was lucky enough to be following them...” Choromatsu continued on, gesturing over to Todomatsu, “I had no clue Jyushimatsu was around, but...Todomatsu has been laying there all night to just make sure that this human is okay."

“ ** _All night---_** “ Ichimatsu cut himself off in shock, “ _But it’s morning right now!_ ” He added on obviously, looking back at Choromatsu in an attempt to elaborate on how ridiculous committing such an action it was.

“ _I know how you feel, brother_ …” Karamatsu muttered with a frown, his teeth and fists clenched whilst he stared down at the ocean, “I’m meant to be the second eldest, but…I couldn’t even protect Choromatsu or Totty by keeping us three together amongst the storm…I hadn’t even noticed Jyushimatsu to protect him…” He added on, causing Choromatsu to nod apologetically at Jyushimatsu, causing the 5th eldest to shake his head with a ‘nah, ‘s fine!’, “We should have just swam away…I couldn’t control Todomatsu from going towards the human ship…I’m meant to be the second eldest, and keep him out of trouble, and yet…”

“…Yeah, you’re right, actually,” Ichimatsu muttered with a frown, “ _This is all your fault, Shittymatsu!_ ” He snapped, shoving at his older brother, causing Jyushimatsu to let out an **_‘ah!’_** of worry, urging the two not to fight right now.

Choromatsu sighed yet again, looking over at Todomatsu with a look of fatigue - the four elder brothers were floating a few inches away from the sand-filled land, inspecting their youngest brother’s current situation. Jyushimatsu’s eyebrows were knitted together in worry as he had begun chewing at his lips, letting out a few whines of worry. Ichimatsu simply stared droopy-eyed, and Karamatsu stared with a frown, his arms folded.

Todomatsu’s back was arched as he stared down at Atsushi, who was sprawled out on the sand – as the youngest Matsuno rested on the land, his tail was lifting itself up from time to time, only to settle back down snug in the sand.

With nothing but the sounds of the tranquil waves, Todomatsu tore his eyes away from Atsushi’s face cautiously, turning his head around to face his brothers floating in the sea. The four Matsuno’s blinked, taken aback to see Todomatsu had bags under his eyes, causing them to look swollen, as though he was crying.

“Is he…alive?” The youngest prince asked, profuse worry laced in his voice – he then quickly went back to looking down at Atsushi – he truly did look like a corpse at this point, and it pained the boy – it was like seeing his parents passing away before him all over again, except Atsushi’s circumstances were due to an accident – Todomatsu’s parents died naturally, but the pain was the same pain he was currently experiencing.

Ichimatsu looked between his youngest brother and the human, the usually apathetic look being replaced with wavering eyes, and pursed lips of worry.

“W-well…it’s...hard to say.” He replied in a muttering stutter after a few minutes, looking away.

“T-Todomatsu,” Choromatsu began, “I understand you saved him, but it’s better not to get too close---“

“What are you saying , Choromatsu nii-san?” Jyushimatsu asked, “He’s spent all night laying here with him, wondering if he’s okay!” He informed, “It’s a bit late for that if you ask me, ahahah!”

“ _No, well, no one asked you, Jyushimatsu._ ” Choromatsu replied with squinted eyes.

“Brothers, we must help him, if that is what our youngest brother wants…” Karamatsu urged, the frown not leaving his face.

“Are you kidding me?!” Choromatsu snapped, ”Totty’s already played his moral part, so we should leave _right now_ , and let the humans find him! Otherwise we’ll be the ones who’ll need saving!”

“Besides, we wouldn’t know how...just look at him…” Ichimatsu added on in a mutter.

"Ah, that reminds me!" Jyushimatsu began, raising a hand into the air, catching his elder brothers' attention, "This guy.." He pointed at Atsushi, "Somehow knows about Osomatsu nii-san's existence!" He beamed.

"...Hah?" Ichimatsu asked with a cocked eyebrow, " _The hell are you saying, Jyushimatsu?_ "

"Exactly what I just said, Nii-San!" Jyushimatsu replied. 

"Wait a minute," Karamatsu interjected, "When you say this guy 'knows about Osomatsu's existence'..."

"You mean..." Choromatsu sucked in a breath of pure fear, " _They know merpeople exist?!_ "

“ _L-Look!_ ” Todomatsu suddenly called out, leaning down closer towards Atsushi’s face, listening closely, “ _He’s visibly breathing!_ ” The boy informed with a huge grin, looking back up at his brothers as relief washed over him instantly. The four merprinces then blinked in surprise, until Choromatsu worriedly spoke up, backing away, going deeper into the water.

“Okay, great, he was just sleeping! You’ve saved his life, Totty,” He replied, “Now _please, let’s go!_ ” He urged.

“ _He really…pisses me off…shit…I want to punch him…_ ” Todomatsu gasped out in awe, ignoring his older brother as he stared down at Atsushi’s face, “ _He’s so beautiful_ …” He added on, his eyes sparkling - as he ran his right hand through the unconscious prince’s slicked back hair, Todomatsu brought a few strands back to cover Atsushi’s forehead, unable to stop himself from smiling, beginning to sing softly.

 _“I’ve always lived_  
_Like I was a star_  
_It was all gray_  
_Until I saw you_  
_What should I do with this hue_  
_Smiling at me?”_

As Todomatsu sang out, caressing Atsushi’s cheek, the human prince hazily gained a sense of consciousness, moving his head ever so slightly. As his eyes remained unable to open, all Atsushi could hear was an angelic, masculine voice, which he could admit, without wavering, made his heartbeat speed up in longing.

 _“Where would we walk?_  
_Where would we run?_  
_If we could stay all day in the sun?_  
_Just you and me_  
_And I could be_  
_Part of your world…”_

“Uhm… ** _Totty?_** ” Choromatsu asked with a tilt of his head, seeing Todomatsu, even after his song, still infatuated with the prince, continuing to caress his cheek, “ _Hello?_ ” Choromatsu asked in repetition, squinting his eyes and parting his lips – he then turned his head to look at Ichimatsu and Karamatsu, whose jaws had fully dropped as they witnessed the scene unfolding before them, ” _E-eh?_ **_EH!?_** ” He called out, eyes widening in shock, looking back at Todomatsu, “ ** _SO THAT’S WHAT IT WAS?!_** ”

“ _Ahahah!_ ” Jyushimatsu beamed, “ _Totty’s in love, Totty’s in love!_ ” He chanted, causing Choromatsu to scream out as he looked up at the sky with a prolonged **_‘NO! ANYTHING BUT A HUMAN, I BEG OF YOU!’_** , clutching at his hair in absolute horror, shaking his head back and forth. Ichimatsu then swam over to a nearby rock, repeatedly slamming his head down on it whilst muttering **_‘Totty’s in love, Totty’s in love, Totty’s in love – love...w-with a human’_** , causing Karamatsu to scream out a prolonged ‘ ** _BROTHER!_** ’, his arm extended to put a stop to his younger brother’s actions. Amongst all of this, Todomatsu decided to keep on singing with a smile.

 _“I don't know when_  
_I don't know how_  
_But I know something's starting right now_  
_Watch and you'll see_  
_Some day I'll be_  
_Part of your world…”_

Just then, Todomatsu blinked down to see Atsushi had barely opened his eyes as he sighed out, like he had just woken up from a deep sleep – as Atsushi brought his hand up to his face, in order to hold the youngest Matsuno’s hand, the familiar sounds of meowing came from a short distance, as well as the voice of an elderly man calling out **_‘Atsushi-kun!’_** , Todomatsu tearing his eyes away from Atsushi abruptly, and catching the Matsuno merprinces off guard.

Todomatsu instantly looked back down at Atsushi, slipping his hands out of the prince’s grip, before giving the human boy a sharp slap to the cheek, a blank stare on his face.

“ ** _That’s for being not so bad to look at._** ” Todomatsu said, proceeding to shuffle into the sea as quickly as he could, face now flushed a deep red - as he gave Atsushi (who was groaning whilst he sat up, trying to gain full consciousness, gingerly placing a hand on the spot where the merprince had just slapped) one final glance, the elder Matsuno brothers then pulled him along into the deep depths of the ocean, ESP Kitty managing to spot the ends of their tails disappearing when he ran up into Atsushi’s arms (the purple tail catching his attention the most).

“ ** _Atsushi-Kun!_** ” Dekapan exclaimed, quickly bending down to help the prince up, who blinked hazily, looking around, “I’m so glad you’re okay-dasu!”

“A—A guy…saved me…” Atsushi replied, persistently beginning to search around nearby.

 ** _“I’m not sure about it 100%, though, but I’ll believe it with everything I have, anyway.”_** ESP Kitty interjected with a purr.

“He—He had the most…out of the ordinary voice...” Atsushi continued on cautiously in an attempt to convince Dekapan, who was staring at him worriedly.

 ** _“I’d like to hear during sex.”_** ESP Kitty continued on, causing Atsushi’s face to heat up as his body tensed, eyes widening in pure shock.

“…. _Hoeh?_ ” Dekapan asked, “ ** _HOEH!?_** ” The elderly man continued asking on in shock, beginning to wave his arms all over the place, causing Atsushi to do the same, “I-I think the little one was exposed to too much seawater-dasu!”

“Y-Yeah, definitely!” Atsushi replied.

**_“Actually, I’ve known all along you were a raging homo.”_ **

“D-DEFINITELY THE SEAWATER!” Atsushi called out.

“C-Come, let us get you cleaned up-dasu!”

“…Professor…” Atsushi sighed out, “ _We really need to sort out the antidote for ESP Kitty.._ ”

* * *

“Osomatsu nii-san will never know this happened!” Choromatsu called out manically as he laughed, “I definitely won’t tell him, you three won’t tell him,” He listed, pointing at Karamatsu (who nodded worriedly), Jyushimatsu (who nodded all too happily), and Ichimatsu (who nodded seriously), “And you  _definitely_ won’t tell him a thing, Todomatsu!”

“R-right...” Todomatsu said with a nod, “Not that it was my intention to, anyway…” 

“Okay!” Choromatsu announced, “We go back to our normal lives starting now! Osomatsu nii-san absolutely _cannot_ find out the humans know of the existence of merpeople!"

* * *

“ _Now this is just too easy! Dear, precious, alluring Totty is in love with the human prince!_ ”

The sound of crunches resounded throughout the skeleton yet again, polyps seeming to cry out as loudly as ever. Tougo’s shark-like teeth couldn’t help but shape themselves into a wide smile, with no intention of undoing themselves any time soon. As the man sniggered, he let out a sigh.

“Totoko, good work… _let’s hope something starts real soon._ ”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧HeLLO THERE, DEAR READERS!!!
> 
> WELP, OSOMATSU-SAN HAD FINALLY REACHED ITS END!!! It was a wonderful show, and it's inspired some gREAT stuff from the fanbase! <3 As always, thank you all so much for kudos, bookmarks, & comments! I've gOT SO MANY FIC IDEAS WHICH ARE IN THE WORKS, SO STAY TUNED, OSOMATSU FANS! C: 
> 
> Please enjoy the newest chapter, dear readers!~*:･ﾟ✧

The day had progressed just like any other - at least, that's what Choromatsu had hoped would've been the case. The five Matsuno's hadn't gone about their daily routine that day.

' _Well, not that these guys' routines consisted of a lot to begin with.._.’ The 3 rdeldest prince thought to himself with a slight frown, eyes squinted, ' _Unlike me - I have a lot to be getting on with!_ '

Choromatsu had noticed the undoubted tension spread out across the kingdom due to the proclamation yesterday - the merguards also seemed to be as intimidating as ever with their scowling faces, proceeding to swim everywhere with spears in hand. Of course, no one was daring to go near the surface above, and instead, acted as though nothing was wrong.

The merprinces were currently in their conjoined bedroom, either fast asleep on the plush bed for six (an enlarged clam shell serving as its base), panicking about what had just happened, wondering what to do next, or utterly, completely, and hopelessly--

" ** _Lovestruck_**..." Choromatsu muttered in horror as he swam back and forth across the room, clutching at his hair yet again, " _I still can't believe it! He’s totally lovestruck!_ " He exclaimed, causing Karamatsu (who was sat on the bed, arms folded), to snap a small ' _shh, brother! You'll wake them_!' - Choromatsu blinked, taken aback, until his attention was focused on Ichimatsu and Jyushimatsu, who had decided to go to sleep, the fatigue of searching for their three brothers all night finally kicking in.

Choromatsu simply pouted at the sight with a frown.

"We're the ones who stayed up _all night_ with Totty to look after that dangerous human - how come  ** _they're_**  the ones sleeping?" He asked in a low mutter.

"Brother, they _searched_  for us  _all night_ ,” Karamatsu reasoned in reply, “They've been moving all night, so we haven't lost as much energy in comparison to them," He reminded, "Or, no, well, I guess you  _did_  scold Totty for a full hour, so---"

The 2nd eldest was then interrupted by Choromatsu's glare as he let out a nervous cough, before smiling and gesturing to his sleeping younger brothers' tails.

"At any rate, look - Jyushimatsu's tail isn't moving a bit - that's how tired they are." He added on, causing Choromatsu to abruptly release his frown with a sigh after looking at them.

"Well, I guess you're right.." The 3rd eldest muttered in reply, looking away.

A few minutes had passed until the boy spoke up again.

"Osomatsu nii-san is probably wondering why we weren't in bed last night, or at breakfast this morning..." He said slowly, before tugging at his hair and yelling out yet again, " ** _Ah, I can't take this! What do we do!? It's not easy to just 'get on' with our lives! He's going to ask questions! The humans know we exist, too!_** "

Karamatsu instantly swam up to his younger brother, trying to stifle his worried rambling by slapping a hand over his mouth, wincing.

" _Brother, honestly! You're the one who told us to do so!_ " 

" ** _What'cha guys doin'?_** " A sudden voice asked, sending a chill down both of the prince’s spines, Choromatsu audibly screaming out and taking the king by surprise – Ichimatsu and Jyushimatsu groggily sat up after having their sleep interrupted, their tails curving upwards, and the two boys had begun to rub their eyes whilst groaning. 

After the four brothers saw Osomatsu floating by the doorway, head tilted as he blinked curiously, the king swam up to them, cocking an eyebrow.

Ichimatsu and Jyushimatsu instantly gulped, and Choromatsu had begun to wave his arms all over the place, Karamatsu’s shoulders tensing up visibly. Of course, all four of them were wide-eyed.

“O-Osomatsu nii-san!” Choromatsu greeted in a beam, “How doth---fare thee well…?” He inquired, before pausing and staring up at the ceiling with squinted eyes, holding his chin, “No, that’s not right…” He muttered to himself, “How doth…thee fair? Yeah, I think that’s it!”

Osomatsu’s lips parted whilst he stared at the prince in utter confusion, looking over at Karamatsu and gesturing to Choromatsu with an abrupt raise of his eyebrows, cocking one soon after – Karamatsu jumped at the address, but simply shook his head whilst shrugging, forcing a smile and some laughter.

‘ _Idiots!_ ’ Ichimatsu thought to himself, sending a specific glare in Karamatsu’s direction, beginning to cough audibly.

“So, uh…how are you guys…?” Osomatsu began slowly in question, “I couldn’t really sleep that well last night, and all of you weren’t at breakfast, so…” He trailed off awkwardly, his face heating up in embarrassment as he scratched the back of his head.

“O-Osomatsu nii-san, we’re sorry!” Choromatsu quickly replied, “Totty wasn’t feeling that great yesterday after the whole proclamation argument, so we all decided to cheer him up!” He explained rapidly, trying his best not to let his words fumble.

“T-That’s right!” Karamatsu added on, “We took him to explore the depths of the ocean!” He said, “You know, keep his mind off of the humans and stuff! A-And knowing Totty, he wanted to explore  _everywhere, so of course, it lasted the entire night!_ ”

‘ _Karamatsu nii-san, nice!_ ’ Choromatsu thought to himself as he looked at the 2ndeldest prince with a slight grin.

“Huh,” Osomatsu mused, “I see…” He added on, looking over at Ichimatsu and Jyushimatsu for a confirmation of some sort.

“I-I bumped into Jyushimatsu after the proclamation…and then we bumped into those three…so we just tagged along…” Ichimatsu muttered with a nod, unable to look Osomatsu in the eye – Jyushimatsu merely nodded his head repeatedly with a smile, beaming a ‘yup, yup, that’s right, that’s right!’.

Osomatsu peered between the four suspiciously, letting out a sigh – he then raised his head to reveal a wide grin, hands on his hips.

“You kids had better not have gotten into trouble during this little adventure!” He said with a slight snigger, ruffling their hair individually.

“I kept my eye on him, as you instructed, Nii-san!” Choromatsu replied, “Believe me, it was all under control. We were careful!” He reassured, causing Karamatsu to involuntarily twitch slightly at the lie.

“I believe you, Choromatsu, I was just teasing.” Osomatsu replied, clearly distracted, “…So I take it Totty’s now accepted the proclamation?” he asked. 

The four brothers all blinked in surprise, exchanging looks with each other, before nodding in unison - their facial expressions screamed uncertainty, but Osomatsu paid no attention as he paused, looking around.

“And? Where is Totty right now?” He pressed on.

“Eh?” Karamatsu inquired as he blinked with a nervous smile, shoulders tensing up yet again, his hands placed behind his back. Ichimatsu simply gave him a sharp nudge with a visible frown on his face.

“O-Oh, now that you mention it….” Choromatsu proceeded to look around as he swam up to the seagrass covering their dressing room, “Totty! Come on, you’ve been in there all morning!” He called out.

Osomatsu stared nervously, not knowing what to do when his youngest brother emerged – how could he apologise for his snappy attitude yesterday? 

Well, of course, it was a surprise to see that Todomatsu had gently pushed the seagrass out of the way as he emerged a few short seconds later, humming to himself with a smile as his eyes were closed. With his pink tail moving him gracefully, the boy had begun to spin around, face flushed. 

Choromatsu stared in alarm as Karamatsu simply gaped at the boy, Ichimatsu and Jyushimatsu blinking wide-eyed.

“Oh, Osomatsu nii-san!” Todomatsu beamed after blinking his eyes open – he then smiled brightly at the king, “Morning!” He greeted with a nod, proceeding to swim out of the room.

A silence ensued for a good minute.

“U—Uhm…” Osomatsu began in utter shock, pointing at where Todomatsu just was, looking at his brothers in terror – they all gulped, “Just…what  _was_   ** _that?_** ” He asked.

Of course, they all shook their heads violently, simply shrugging.

* * *

“Ah, hey, Todomatsu, wait up!”

“Hm? What is it, Osomatsu nii-san?”

“C-could we talk a bit...about yesterday?”

Todomatsu blinked curiously at the king, somewhat taken aback as they  floated on the palace grounds – the merpeople respectfully bowed their heads as the king and his youngest brother had passed by them, proceeding to go back to their topics of conversation with one another.

As Osomatsu was swimming by Todomatsu’s side, quietly looking straight ahead, the youngest Matsuno couldn’t help but internally freak out – Osomatsu’s expression was blank - there was no way the king found out about yesterday, right? Otherwise why would he be speaking like this to Todomatsu so formally and awkwardly? Karamatsu nii-san and Choromatsu nii-san were terrible liars, after all! Come to think of it, so were Ichimatsu nii-san and Jyushimatsu nii-san! They could have easily given it away - Todomatsu felt his heartbeat speed up slightly in worry whilst he kept on sneaking glances at Osomatsu.

“Uh, Osomatsu nii-san,” Todomatsu began, bringing his swimming to a halt – Osomatsu paused, turning his head to look at Todomatsu in surprise, “I’m sorry I snapped at you yesterday! You had every right to get angry!” The boy said, bowing his head down slightly.

Osomatsu was at a loss for words for a few minutes as he sucked a breath in, staring at the prince wide-eyed.

“The hell, Totty?!” Osomatsu snapped in reply, “I was the one who wanted to apologise! I lost my temper too easily…” He muttered, “The fact that you’ve done it first makes me out to look like the bad guy here, you sly bastard!” He informed, pulling the boy into a playful headlock whilst grinning.

Todomatsu blinked at Osomatsu confusedly – what, so he didn’t know about yesterday’s events? 

_‘What a relief!’_

Todomatsu couldn’t help but smile.

“But I understand, Nii-san!” He beamed, breaking out of the headlock and beginning to swim around with a dreamy sigh yet again, remembering Atsushi’s sleeping face, “It sure must be hard ruling the seven seas at sixteen years old; of course you’re going to be stressed!” He pointed out, “The eldest brother really is reliable. I heart you!” He exclaimed with a gesture.

Osomatsu couldn’t help but laugh slightly with a cocked eyebrow, following behind his brother.

“The hell? You’re kinda creepin’ me out, y’know.”

Todomatsu merely nodded his head in reply as he had begun humming to himself once again. The thought of Atsushi wouldn’t leave him alone, no matter how hard the young prince tried – however, one thing was for sure – Todomatsu just absolutely  _had_  to see him again.

“ ** _Oh, Totty!_** ”

Blinking in recognition, Todomatsu turned himself around to see two of his ex-music classmates swimming up to him – Sachiko, a mermaid with brown hair (which was put up in a ponytail), had a lime green tail, whereas Aida, whose hair was curly and light brown, had a light blue tail – the two girls’ faces were flushed, and their eyes were sparkling at the sight of their friend.

“Ah, Aida, Sacchi!” Todomatsu beamed with a smile, straightening his posture – Osomatsu blinked at the two girls, silently looking between them, “Congratulations on musical graduation!”

“Congratulations to His Highness, Totty, too!” The two replied in unison, bowing their heads with a smile, before turning their attention towards Osomatsu, giving an abrupt bow. The eldest Matsuno nodded his head with a smile, returning a small wave.

“How’ve you both been doing?” Todomatsu inquired, clearly thrilled to see them both.

“We’re good!” Aida replied with a grin, gesturing a thumbs up.

“But that aside, are you okay, Totty? You hadn’t shown up for the performance!” Sacchi asked, her eyebrows tilted upwards in worry.

Todomatsu twitched, noticing the sudden change of subject, and Osomatsu kissed his teeth quietly at the reminder.

“Ahh, right, uh—yeah, about that!” Todomatsu had begun, waving his hands all over the place, causing the two mermaids to stare at him in confusion, “I’m really sorry! Some stuff had come up, and…” He trailed off after a few seconds with a sigh, “I let everyone in the music class down, didn’t I? Ichimatsu nii-san said you were all waiting on me…” He muttered, eyes downcast.

After a few seconds of exchanging a look with each other, the two girls couldn’t help but giggle behind their hands, causing the boy to look up at them worriedly.

“Don’t worry about it, Totty! Everyone understood!” Sachiko reassured brightly.

“You must have a lot on your plate to be forgetting such an important thing!” Aida chimed in, “I can only imagine how much work Osomatsu-Sama has as the king!”

“Well…” Osomatsu began, scratching his head with a grin, cheeks reddening – Todomatsu cocked an eyebrow at his older brother’s mannerisms, before shaking his head with an amused chuckle.

“Choromatsu nii-san was probably running around everywhere, right?”  The youngest prince asked.

The two girls nodded, giggling yet again at the reminder.

“He was so caught up in the orchestral positioning, that he told us all to sort our own positions on stage out – he didn’t bother checking who was present or not! Of course, _we’re_ somewhat guilty, too, since we didn’t notice the star of hope himself was missing!”

“Sounds like Choromatsu when he’s stressed.” Osomatsu said with a grin, arms behind his head.

Todomatsu gave a weak laugh at the mention of his less-preferred nickname – ‘the star of hope’ put a lot of pressure on him, after all.

The youngest Matsuno then blinked in recognition.

“Oh---speaking of Choromatsu nii-san, I forgot all about it, but he said he had something to discuss with me!” He informed, turning his head to look at the king, “Osomatsu nii-san, is he still in our room?” He inquired, causing Osomatsu to shake his head.

“He was telling me that you’re taking part in a new musical he’s made. One to make up for the debut you missed.” The king informed, causing Aida and Sacchi to beam, undoubtedly excited at the news, “What’s even better is that he’s dragged Karamatsu, Ichimatsu, and Jyushimatsu into it, too!”

“No way!” Todomatsu exclaimed in shock.

“Yup! He’s in the hall with them – he told me to tell you to meet him there as soon as possible,” Osomatsu replied, gesturing behind him, “So off you go.”

“Ah, then!” Todomatsu turned to the two girls with an apologetic smile, winking at them, “I’ll see you two later, right?”

“Of course! We're looking forward to it!”

“Bye bye, Totty! Good luck!”

“See you, Osomatsu nii-san!” Todomatsu said, turning himself around with a smile – the king gave a nod whilst returning the smile, watching his youngest brother swim off, twirling around as his eyes were closed yet again – the king could hear the prince’s bright humming from where he was floating. Those near the palace merely inspected Todomatsu’s mannerisms, exchanging positive facial expressions with one another as the young prince had passed. 

“Oh, Totty’s got it bad!” Aida beamed as soon as Todomatsu was out of earshot, giggling behind her hand once again.

Osomatsu blinked at the sudden statement, turning his head to blink at the girl curiously. 

“Huh?” He asked, “Why? What’s he got?” 

“Can’t you tell, Your Highness?” Sacchi asked with a dreamy sigh, “Totty’s in _love_!”

“… ** _Totty? In love?_** ” Osomatsu repeated in question, disbelief written all over his face.

A few seconds had passed after the two mermaids had nodded their heads at the king, and Osomatsu couldn’t help but erupt into loud laughter as he clutched his stomach, taking the two girls aback.

“Don’t make me laugh!”

“But it’s the truth!” Aida insisted with a slight whine to her voice, holding both of her clenched fists up to her chest.

“That’s right, that’s right!” Sacchi added on, a minimal frown present.

Osomatsu wiped a tear from his eye, stabilizing his breathing.

“And? Why d’you think so?” He inquired, the smile not leaving his face.

“Well, it’s no secret he’s a total ladies man, and a total flirt,” Aida replied, causing Osomatsu to nod, “And oddly enough, he told us he’s never had a crush on any of the girls in the music class!”

“ _Brutally honest!_ ” Sacchi added on.

“Yeah, that sounds like Totty…” Osomatsu said in a defeated manner, laughing forcefully.

“But the way he just… _was_! It was clear he was distracted by the thought someone!” Aida said, making hand gestures.

Osomatsu blinked in surprise – she had a point, and he couldn’t help but hold his chin in thought.

“…You really think so?” He asked genuinely.

“We know so, Your Highness! We’ve spent years in the same music class as Totty, after all!” They replied in unison.

* * *

“Right, now that Totty’s here, we can  _finally_  discuss what to do about yesterday’s situation!” Choromatsu began, nervously floating back and forth on the stage in the palace hall, holding his chin.

“Huh? There’s nothing to discuss, though…” Ichimatsu muttered in reply, eyes half lidded as he took a random seat in the orchestra pit - the seat was turned around, so the boy could look up at his older brother. Jyushimatsu, sat by Ichimatsu’s side and having done the same to the chair, had begun to laugh, nodding his head in agreement.

“Wait a minute, but I thought you said you had something to discuss with me!” Todomatsu brought up, sat by Jyushimatsu, following suite in regards to the chair, “Something about us taking part in a new musical you’ve made?” He added on in question, leaning forward to look up at the 3rd eldest prince.

“It’s obvious that was a lie, idiot!” Choromatsu snapped, looking down at his youngest brother with a frown, arms folded, “How else was I supposed to tell you guys we’re discussing yesterday whilst Osomatsu nii-san was  _right there!?_ And you swam off before I had the chance to stop you!”

“W-Well…” Todomatsu trailed off, looking down at his tail, “You have a point...” He sighed out, before looking back up, “But like Ichimatsu nii-san said, there’s nothing to discuss!”

“Is there  _really_  nothing to discuss, though?!” Choromatsu retorted, seeming to catch Ichimatsu's attention, “You’ve been acting strange ever since that human---“

“ _Atsushi-Kun._ ” Todomatsu interrupted bluntly, frowning at the prince whilst he crossed his arms over his chest.

“Wh---what?” Choromatsu asked through squinted eyes, clearly taken aback.

“ _His name is Atsushi-Kun._ ” Todomatsu repeated, not breaking the eye contact – Jyushimatsu instantly broke out into laughter, causing Ichimatsu to lightly nudge him, telling the yellow-tailed prince to quieten down.

After a few seconds of examining Todomatsu, Choromatsu gritted his teeth with a frown.

“I don’t care!” He replied with a huff, fists now clenched, “My point is, you’re  ** _in love_**  with a  _human,_  and are acting way too suspicious because of it!” The prince brought up, “What’s more, that human lifted his hand to  _touch_  yours!” He added on, shivering in terror at uttering such a sentence, “For all we know, he could have been awake the entire time, now going around and telling those other humans to start hunting us down!”

“…Nii-san, that’s kinda far-fetched…” Todomatsu said with a soft, weak laugh, face flushing at the mention of how he felt towards Atsushi. The boy couldn't help but bashfully look down at his tail with a small smile.

“How?! They know Osomatsu nii-san exists!”

“W-Well, it's far more likely that Osomatsu nii-san is a myth to them…” The youngest Matsuno suggested, unable to stop thinking of the human prince.

“Even so! Somehow the information must have leaked, otherwise how would they know Nii-san's exact name?!" Choromatsu asked frantically, before sighing out shakily, eyes closed to compose himself, "But that aside, what the problem right now is that you’ve made contact with one of them! And now you’re attached! Am I wrong?!” He growled whilst pointing at the boy, making Todomatsu tense up, snapping out of his daze.

“Yo—you’re not, but---“

“Actually,” Ichimatsu interjected with a raised hand, voice as deadpan as ever, “I think I agree with Choromatsu nii-san on this one.” He muttered.

“WH—Ichimatsu nii-san!?” Todomatsu asked, gaping as he turned his head to look at the merprince. His older brother’s expression hadn’t faltered until Choromatsu, and even Jyushimatsu, stared in surprise at him, causing him to visibly tense up, staring down at the floor.

"This is dangerous..." Ichimatsu continued on reluctantly, "I was fine with you collecting the human objects, Totty, but this is pushing it…They have some idea of our existence, be it myth or fact, and one of them made contact with you...and by you getting attached to that guy, it'll only get worse....we're not even sure if his life was genuinely in danger, or if he was just acting..."

"He wouldn't act unconscious  _all night, though! I saw how big the explosion was! And anyway, as much as this pains me to say it, he had no clue what he was doing when he made contact with me! I don't think he recognised what I was, otherwise he would have reacted audibly, surely!"_ Todomatsu replied with a slight whine, urging his brothers to listen, “ _I'm not even sure if he remembers that I saved him, or if he just thought that it was all a dream!”_ He added on, swimming up to Choromatsu, eyebrows tilted in melancholy at the memory, "Truthfully, it scared me, seeing him like that!" He informed, "And when he finally regained  _some_  type of consciousness," He looked down at Ichimatsu, "Be it silently breathing, lifting his hand to touch mine, or listening to us, or barely opening his eyes," His eyes went back to Choromatsu, "A huge weight was lifted off of my shoulders!"

"Even so, Totty---"

"And you saw how kind he was, right, Jyushimatsu nii-san?" Todomatsu inquired in interruption, looking at the older prince for some backup, "I don't think he's capable of ordering other humans to hunt us down!"

"Actually, I wasn't really paying attention to him, ahahah!" Jyushimatsu beamed in reply, causing Todomatsu to sigh out after a few seconds, having lost all hope (which was kind of ironic, given the whole 'star of hope' nickname he had) at this point, "But y'know, Totty, we dunno if he would have shown us the same kindness he does towards the humans, if we had stayed with him until he completely woke up! We  _are_  merpeople, after all, and he's a human! There's a massive gap!" The 5th eldest added on, causing Ichimatsu to nod his head.

After a while of looking between his older brothers' faces, seeing that they were somewhat unconvinced (more worried, if anything), Todomatsu rolled his eyes.

"So what do you guys suggest we actually  _do_ to deal with yesterday? I  _know_  Atsushi-Kun isn't that kind of dangerous person - my intuition says so. I saw the way he acts, and I saved his life, so it's got to count for something! I don't really know how to explain it, but...he didn't have a malicious air about him _at all_."

"...We'll assume he doesn't for the sake of our sanity." Choromatsu replied with a sigh, a tense frown now apparent on his face, "All we can do is just hope that the humans don't come down here..." He added on.

Ichimatsu and Jyushimatsu nodded at the resolve, facial expressions serious.

"Of course, that also means, to deal with yesterday's occurrence," The 3rd eldest lifted his head to maintain intimidating eye contact with his youngest brother, "Todomatsu, you  _cannot, under any circumstances,_ go up to the surface.  _I mean it."_

"I don't think he'd be able to, anyway," Ichimatsu informed, “The merguards have been patrolling around most of the time since yesterday." He added on with a casual shrug. Jyushimatsu merely agreed with a bright 'yup!'.

Todomatsu simply frowned at Choromatsu, his body feeling completely tense - Ichimatsu's comments weren't making things any better either, and Jyushimatsu's attempts at lightening up the mood were beginning to become rather irritating to the youngest prince.

"Todomatsu, I also want you to give up," Choromatsu continued on, not tearing his eyes away from the boy, " _Give up on that human, as well as wanting to be up there on the surface. Both are no good for you. Your home is down here, under the sea."_ He informed with a stern frown, arms folded.

The youngest Matsuno was about to retort, until he simply looked away, proceeding to take a seat by Jyushimatsu yet again, biting down on his lip, and fists subtly clenched by his side. There was no point in getting angry like yesterday - he was the youngest, so of course, he never had a say in making decisions - even if him and his brothers were all simultaneously 16 years old.

"...Anyway, now that we're done with that, can we start making that lie about the new musical, featuring the Matsuno brothers, a reality?" Todomatsu muttered in question, not wanting to answer his older brother's order directly, "Osomatsu nii-san has already spread the word, and Aida and Sacchi have surely done the same by now..."

Choromatsu simply stated at the boy for a few seconds, before nodding his head.

"E--EH?!" Ichimatsu suddenly called out in question, clearly taken aback as he shot out of his seat, looking between the two, "No way am I taking part! And you _just said_  that it was a lie five minutes ago!" He rambled on, pointing at Choromatsu in utter horror.

"I needed to come up with a new composition, anyway, and this actually seems like the perfect chance," Choromatsu informed composedly, "It's for the sake of impressing Nya-Chan, keeping Osomatsu nii-san's suspicions at bay, and fixing Totty's musical debut, so please cooperate a bit, Ichimatsu..."

"C'mon, Ichimatsu nii-san!" Jyushimatsu urged with a bright smile, "It sounds fun!"

"Jyushimatsu, maybe to you it does, but for unburnable garbage like me, it's hell!" The purple-tailed prince replied, clutching onto his younger brother's shoulders, " _I'll probably end up shitting on the stage!"_

Whilst his brothers were conversing with one another, Jyushimatsu's hearty laughs resounding through the hall as he was now up on the stage with Ichimatsu and Choromatsu, Todomatsu simply remained seated, unable to get Atsushi out of his mind.

He understood where his brothers were coming from, but it was easier said than done - the surface above was calling to him, and Atsushi had awakened something in the boy; a variety of things – enhanced emotions. Joy, curiosity, envy, and even lust. He wanted the human prince. _Badly._

Although he had no clue how it would work, what with him being a merman, and his 'true love' being a human, but gosh, how Todomatsu ached to see him again - he'd be lying if he said he wasn't planning on how they would meet for the second time.

During his spacing out session, thinking about what to do next, and being upset over Choromatsu's orders, Todomatsu was snapped out of his thoughts when someone had nudged him lightly - the boy instantly turned himself around in his head to see Karamatsu floating in front of him with a grin. The youngest Matsuno's face instantly lit up.

“Karamatsu nii-san!” Todomatsu exclaimed, “I forgot you existed!”

The 2nd eldest Matsuno squinted his eyes at his youngest brother, gesturing for him to quieten down - Todomatsu did as he was instructed, blinking curiously at the prince, head tilted.

“Come, brother, I have something to show you!" Karamatsu informed quietly, pointing behind his shoulder with his thumb, before abruptly swimming out of the hall.

After turning his head around to see his three other elder brothers' backs facing him on the stage, their conversation not dying anytime soon, and not having noticed Karamatsu, Todomatsu rolled his eyes, following his older brother out of the hall silently without a second thought.

* * *

"Geez, Karamatsu nii-san! _Where are we going, already_?”

As the youngest prince’s eyes were closed to be greeted with nothing but pitch black, Todomatsu was unable to stop himself from moving his head left and right, attempting to gain a sense of familiarity when it came to the setting he was currently swimming through - letting a few laughs escape from his mouth, he couldn’t help but wonder what his elder brother was up to whilst Karamatsu swam in front of him, holding his wrist softly as he pulled him along.

“Non, non, brother! You can’t open your eyes yet!” The 2nd eldest Matsuno replied, and Todomatsu could practically hear the smile in his tone, “I heard what Choromatsu was saying back there,” He added on, causing Todomatsu to pout slightly, “But trust me, Totty, this will _definitely_ cheer you up!”

Todomatsu’s curiosity peaked at that, and the boy merely gave a simple nod.

* * *

“ _Totty, that sly bastard!_ "

"Now, now, calm down, Choromatsu nii-san..." Ichimatsu muttered lifelessly, patting the prince's back in a cold reassurance.

“He just swam off!” Choromatsu exclaimed, throwing his hand up into the air to emphasise his frustration, “I wasn’t done talking to him yet, and I don’t think he understood how serious I was!” He added on, “And anyway, wasn’t _he_ the one who suggested we go through with making the musical a reality?!”

“It’s fine, isn’t it?” Ichimatsu replied in question, “One warning is enough – I doubt he’d go up to the surface again after all of this…And I’m sure he’ll manage getting over that human…” He added on, “Only an idiot would do the complete opposite…” The boy muttered quietly, looking away.

After a while of silence, not wanting to bring the musical up any more than it already was, the purple-tailed prince blinked with a slight frown, looking around distractedly.

 “Speaking of which, where’s Jyushimatsu?” He inquired.

“ _Ah, geez, who cares at this point!?_ ” Choromatsu yelled out, clearly stressed, “I need a break from my no-good, useless brothers! I deserve it after everything I’ve been through!”

“ _Your Highness! Choromatsu-Sama!_ ”

The sudden, persistent address made the 3rd eldest turn around with a glare, causing the seahorse that had approached him to let out a yelp of fear, about to back away – Choromatsu quickly blinked in surprise, waving his arms all over the place.

“Ah, no, I’m sorry---!” Choromatsu stuttered out, plastering a forced smile on his face, “W-What can I do for you?” He asked – Ichimatsu merely smirked at the gesture, whereas the seahorse nodded its head with a cough to signify formality.

“Your Highness, Osomatsu-sama wishes to speak with you urgently! This instant, he quotes!” The seahorse informed, “He said it was something about Todomatsu-sama!” the sea creature added on.

Choromatsu and Ichimatsu simultaneously became bug-eyed, staring at the seahorse, who seemed taken aback, before laughing nervously. The two princes then looked at each other, before Choromatsu turned back to the seahorse with a nod of his head.

“Okay, I’ve got it. Thank you,” The prince replied, his body tensing up.

“O-Of course, Your Highness…” It said, before cautiously swimming out of the hall.

“Ichimatsu, you go look for Jyushimatsu right now…” Choromatsu instructed in a mutter – Ichimatsu blinked in surprise at the prince.

“Eh? But why---“

“Just do it!” Choromatsu snapped, “ _I don’t think this will end well..._ ” He informed gravely.

* * *

“ _So, you know why I’ve called you here exactly, right?_ ” The king began in question, not waiting for Choromatsu’s reply, “Hey, Choromatsu, tell me a bit more about the adventures you guys went on yesterday!” He beamed, grinning down at his younger brother.

As Choromatsu floated before and below the king’s elevated throne, fiddling with his hands, unable to make eye contact, the boy looked up slightly to see Osomatsu gestured for him to come closer - Choromatsu gulped as he reluctantly floated towards his eldest brother.

“You guys didn’t…bump into anything, right?” Osomatsu continued on in question, the smirk not leaving his face as his eyebrow was raised in suspicion.

“…’A-Anything’, nii-san?” Choromatsu quoted shakily, trying to laugh as much as possible, “O-Of course not!” He insisted with an attempted beam, smiling at the king.

“So, nothing about Totty, right?” Osomatsu pressed on, “Everything was…fine with him?” He asked, "No, uh--....Sirens? Beautiful babes? Any of that kinda stuff?"

A minute of silence had passed, and Choromatsu thought he was going to internally combust from the crazy pressure being put on him.

“ _Cho-ro-ma-tsu?_ ” Osomatsu addressed in a melodic way, his tone practically screaming ‘don’t even think about lying to me’ – Choromatsu could feel his heart was beating like a jackhammer, and the boy attempted to look anywhere but into his brother’s eyes – however, Osomatsu’s magic seemed to have been inflicted upon Choromatsu, to the point where the 3rd eldest had unwillingly turned his head to look at Osomatsu.

His eyes… _his eldest brother’s eyes were scary._

The green-tailed prince sucked in a quick breath, before calling out in the king’s face.

“ _I **tried** to warn him, Osomatsu nii-san!_ ” He began, “But Totty just wouldn’t listen! His cavern containing the human objects he’s secretly collected over the months, seeing the ship sailing yesterday night and going towards it!” The boy continued on, causing Osomatsu’s expression to turn into a confused frown, eyes squinted as his lips were parted, “Those humans somehow know of your existence, too! Although you're more like a myth to them, if anything! Oh, and don’t even get me _started_ on the fact that he made contact with that _human prince, Atsushi_!---”

Instantaneously, Osomatsu shot up out of his throne, invading Choromatsu’s personal space severely as his expression screamed malicious intent – Choromatsu instantly shut his mouth, raising his shoulders in pure fear, attempting to laugh after he trailed off with a slight strangled noise in the back of his throat.

“ _…What was that about ‘humans’, Choromatsu? " **Totty made contact with a human prince** ’?” _Osomatsu repeatedly lowly.

“ _NO!---No, that’s not it!_ Did I say ‘ _human_ ’?!” Choromatsu replied with hysterically nervous laughter, before pausing, letting out a sigh, “Well, he  _is_ , but…” He trailed off, unable to look into his brother’s eyes yet again.

A few seconds of silence passed again.

“ _Take me to Totty. **Now.**_ ” Was the king’s simple reply.

And so, Choromatsu did.

* * *

The gasp Todomatsu had let out would have surely resounded throughout the cavern, if it weren’t for the fact that the two Matsuno princes were currently under the sea. As Todomatsu floated in front of the sight, Karamatsu couldn’t help but float by his side with a grin, patting his younger brother’s shoulder.

“See, **_brother?_** Told you it’d cheer you up!” Karamatsu reminded, Todomatsu being far too entranced to reply – he merely nodded his head, his clenched fists brought up to his chest.

The young prince swam up to the sunken statue of Atsushi, inspecting it from top to bottom as his eyes gleamed in utter delight and curiosity - whilst he mainly touched the face, the boy then flushed a deep shade of red, and quickly let out a cough to compose himself in front of Karamatsu - turning himself around to look at his brother, he saw the 2nd eldest was smirking at him in amusement.

“Just how exactly, Karamatsu nii-san---“

“How did I bring it here?” Karamatsu interrupted in question, the smirk not leaving his face – Todomatsu gave a simple nod, causing the blue-tailed merprince to extend his hands out, looking up in triumph, “ _Heh,_ o _f course, when you’re a **cool guy** like me---_ “

“ _Painful._ ” Todomatsu interrupted bluntly, eyes squinted, “ _Nevermind, forget I asked_.”

“H-Hey!” Karamatsu snapped playfully, cocking an eyebrow at the boy. A few seconds had passed until he sighed out, “ _…It was just laying a few feet away from the cavern,_ ” He explained, scratching the back of his head, “So it didn’t take much to drag it in here, what with my muscle and all.” He added on with a slight flex, before placing his hands on his hips, smiling in satisfaction, “But I’m glad you like it.”

“Of course I like it,” Todomatsu replied with a slight pout, swimming up to his brother and hugging him, his back facing the statue – abruptly pulling away, Todomatsu turned his head back around to look at it, “… _It’s Atsushi-Kun, after all_ …” He muttered, staring into the stone face’s eyes, feeling his face flush all over again.

Karamatsu blinked at his brother in surprise, before his expression softened and he let out a small huff, eyes half lidded as he smiled.

“ _Is that so?_ ”

“ ** _Hm, I see…So this is the cavern you’ve been keeping a secret from me - throughout all of these months…_** ”

Todomatsu felt himself unable to breathe – vision wavering immensely, the boy turned around, gasping in utter horror - seeing Osomatsu floating before himself and Karamatsu made the youngest prince want to run away on the spot, knowing that his worst nightmare had come true. Karamatsu turned himself around cautiously - seeing Choromatsu hiding behind their eldest brother, guilt written all over his facial expression, the 2nd eldest clenched his fists slightly.

“I consider myself to be a reasonable brother,” Osomatsu began lowly – as he swam closer towards Todomatsu, Karamatsu visibly tense and seemingly ready, the pink-tailed prince instantly swam behind the statue out of pure fear, “I’ve tried not to change since becoming king…I’ve set certain rules for us all to be safe…So I expect them to be obeyed!” Osomatsu continued on, his booming voice somehow echoing, which caused Todomatsu to wince, biting his lip as he was unable to tear his eyes away from the king.

“O-Osomatsu nii-san, I---“

“ _Is it true you saved that human?!_ ” Osomatsu yelled out in question  - Todomatsu winced yet again, before looking at his elder brothers behind the king – Choromatsu was merely looking down at the floor, eyes squeezed shut as he bit down on his lip, and Karamatsu had his arms folded, frowning whilst he inspected Osomatsu.

“…Y-yes,” Todomatsu replied meekly, nodding – he then instantly leaned forward to justify himself, “ _But Nii-san, listen!----_ “

“ ** _You know contact between the merpeople and humans is forbidden!_** ” Osomatsu growled in interruption, eyes squinted, “ ** _We all know it, Todomatsu!_** ”

“Oi, Osomatsu, that human would have died ---“

“ ** _Keep out of this, Karamatsu!_** ” Osomatsu retorted as he turned his head to glare at his younger brother – However, Todomatsu saw that Karamatsu’s expression hadn’t wavered, and instead, hardened, “Don’t think I’ll let all of you lot, who helped him,” He began, pointing at Todomatsu, “Get off so easy!” He spat, Choromatsu sighing out shakily.

“But he’s right, Nii-san! You don’t even _know_ him!” Todomatsu insisted, holding his hands out to emphasise his point, “I couldn’t just leave him!”

“Yes, you could have!” The king retorted, “And ‘ _know him_ ’!? _I don’t need to!_ **_They’re all the same! Dangerous, fish-eating barbarians, with nothing to contribute_** \----”

Without thinking, Todomatsu instantly leaned forward and over the statue.

“ ** _NII-SAN, I LOVE ATSUSHI-KUN!_** ” He called out.

Silence.

After a split second, the boy quickly sucked in a breath at what he had just said with wide eyes, going back to hiding behind the statue, which remained as still as ever.

Osomatsu’s frown soon undid itself, and he stared in shock at his youngest brother – Choromatsu clutched his hair as he stared in horror, mouth wide open. Karamatsu bit down on his lip, the frown not leaving his face.

“Todomatsu… _you’re crazy!_ ” Osomatsu gasped out in disbelief, “ ** _You’re a merperson, and he’s a human, y’know!_** ”  

“I-I don’t care!” Todomatsu retorted weakly, now unable to look the king in the eye.

Osomatsu inspected the boy for a few more seconds, until his expression grew dark.

 _“..Fine. Then maybe you will through this._ ” The king replied through a mutter, raising his hands - they had begun to gleam, and soon enough, sparks of magic were shooting out of them.

Karamatsu flinched in recognition, eyes widening as he raised his shoulders.

“ ** _Oi, stop it, Osomatsu!_** ” Karamatsu yelled out, attempting to get close to the boy.

However, the amount of magic destroying the objects which came from above the surface, and Todomatsu had spent the months collecting, was almost blinding, and the 2nd eldest couldn’t help but raise his forearm to shield his eyes. Choromatsu followed suite, the blue of the deep ocean turning into pure red, causing one to mistake the water as fire.

With the deafening sounds of crashing, due to the objects shattering and falling to the floor, Todomatsu could only move his head around violently, urging Osomatsu to stop, and not having the power to do anything. It frustrated him. More than not having Atsushi by his side.

“ ** _O-Osomatsu nii-san, please!_** ”

With a few more sounds of magic destroying his treasures, Todomatsu sunk to the floor, shaking in shock.

A few minutes of silence passed, until the king spoke up.

“ _That not enough, Totty?_ ” Osomatsu asked lowly – the merprince, after staring down at his destroyed collection, taking in what had just happened, instantly grabbed the rolled-up parchment nearby, smacking the king over the head with it out of pure anger, not needing to say anything.

All at once, Osomatsu clenched his right fist, swiping his youngest brother across the face – it was swift, and as the echo remained, Osomatsu stared down at the prince with heavy breaths, holding his fist up to examine it shortly – Todomatsu winced in pain, shakily bringing his hand up to touch his left eye; Choromatsu was now shaking in fear, and Karamatsu floated up to the king, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“ ** _What?!_** ” Osomatsu growled, turning around to look at Karamatsu – the king was then instantly sent crashing into the pile of destroyed objects, feeling a sharp pain in his left cheek, and having shards of glass cut parts of his body.

“Come with me…” Karamatsu muttered lowly, pulling on Osomatsu’s arm, beginning to float out of the cavern.

“ _H-Hey, Shittymatsu! **Let me go! I’ll fuckin’ kill you, oi!**_ ” The king called out, clearly taken aback whilst the tonality of hatred and wrath was practically spilling out of his mouth.

“Just try it, Osomatsu! You can’t use your bestowed magic on family!” Was the final thing Choromatsu and Todomatsu heard Karamatsu retort with, until an eerie silence followed after the two eldest had disappeared behind the layer of seagrass.

As Choromatsu looked between the seagrass, and Todomatsu, the boy opened his mouth to speak.

“ _T-Totty, I’m so sorry_ \----“

“… ** _Just leave me alone, Choromatsu nii-san_** …”

Choromatsu’s eyes flickered at such a reply, his eyebrows tilted in worry as he reached a hand out for his youngest brother. Then, after a few seconds of silence, he cautiously retracted his hand, biting down on his lip, fists clenched by his side.

Sending one last worried glance towards his youngest brother, Choromatsu saw the boy was resting on the cavern floor, merely looking down at the shattered pieces of stone. Biting down even harder on his lip, the merprince turned his head away, disappearing behind the layer of seagrass.

After hearing nothing but the ocean, and feeling the lingering sting in his left eye, Todomatsu’s hands became unsteady as he held the stone face of Atsushi – the prince sucked a silent, shaky breath in as he examined its condition, before holding it up to press it against his chest.

_And then he cried._


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧HeLLO THERE, DEAR READERS!!! 
> 
> MY GOSH, IT’S BEEN SO LONG SINCE I’VE UPDATED!!! I’M TRULY SORRY FOR THAT! I’ve been trying to clear up some of the ideas I had for this fic (namely how Kara, Choro, Ichi, and Jyushi could play a significant part within the story, given that they’re not animals like Sebastian, Flounder, and Scuttle!)
> 
> ALSO, PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO CHECK OUT THE TWO BEAUTIFUL, GORGEOUS PIECES OF FANART I’VE HAD DRAWN FOR THIS FIC AT THE BEGINNING OF THE CHAPTER!!! <3 
> 
> 1st Piece - Oumabum.tumblr.com  
> 2nd Piece - Lyren.tumblr.com
> 
> ((AGAIN, THANK YOU SO MUCH TO THE ARTISTS, AND COMMENTERS/KUDOS-LEAVERS!!! I’M SOTHANKF UL;//W//;))
> 
> Well, aside from all of that, pleASE ENJOY THE NEWEST CHAPTER, DEAR READERS!!~ *:･ﾟ✧

***

Todomatsu felt as though his quiet sobs would never end.

The overwhelming sensations he felt, the sounds of his treasures cracking, due to the pressure beneath the ocean surface acting upon them, pieces of them breaking off (only to float nearby), and his left eye which he knew was now sporting a bruise...

To the youngest Matsuno, it felt like this moment was moving  _very_  slowly.

Aside from the sounds of his sobs and the cracking objects, Todomatsu knew it was otherwise silent - it hurt to acknowledge the fact that Osomatsu had done such a thing - truthfully, the youngest Matsuno didn't want to believe it.  _The bruise hurt enough._

His feelings towards the magic his eldest brother was bestowed with at his coronation, a year ago, was beginning to grow from envy and jealousy to pure hatred relatively quickly. The prince just didn’t get it - they were supposed to be close – closer than regular siblings, in fact – they were part of the Royal Matsuno Sextuplets, after all - notorious for their unbreakable bond.

Such thoughts made Todomatsu tense up even more, the burning sensation of bile in his throat becoming far more prominent as he attempted to swallow it down - whilst he did so, the human prince’s stone face remained pressed tightly against his chest.

‘ _Why…Why did he do that…?_ ’ Was all Todomatsu thought, asking no one, not even himself, in particular – he didn’t understand Osomatsu’s reasoning – well, more than ‘didn’t understand’, it was mainly the fact that he  _couldn’t_  understand it.

Did his parents truly feel the same way about humans before their passing? The same kind of distaste and hatred? Was Osomatsu influenced by them? 

Todomatsu had never realised it, if that were the case.

Before all of this, Osomatsu and their mother harboured the same extreme level of curiosity – then came himself.

‘ _Maybe her curiosity was what caused her natural death._ ’

The thought made Todomatsu widen his eyes in shock, feeling shivers all over again, as well as a lack of air as he clung to the piece of stone desperately, head remaining lowered. 

Amongst all of this, and throughout all of these months, the youngest sextuplet hadn't noticed the secret entrance to the cavern - it was located within the very top of the circular, hollowed-out shelves, covered up by his discoveries – well, what was left of them, anyway; Osomatsu’s magic had managed to affect everything, in one way or another.

As Totoko floated within the secret entrance, a hand resting on the cold stone wall, the young girl had witnessed it all with glowing eyes – with the disappearance of her visible enchantment, her smile getting the point across that she was absolutely thrilled, the eel-tailed girl automatically knew what she had to do.

Gracefully swimming into the cavern (her green tail making it seem otherwise), Totoko couldn’t help but grin at the sight of Todomatsu – the boy hadn’t noticed her yet; he seemed to be in utter despair as his back was arched, laying at the very bottom of the cavern's surface, and in front of the destroyed stone statue.

‘ _Oh, this is just too easy…_ ’  

With a flick of her flowing hair, Totoko batted her eyelashes, and with a shake of her head, mustered the most melancholic expression she could make. 

After a few seconds of observing the boy below, the girl tilted her head, swimming lower into the cavern, just hovering above Todomatsu’s head.

Swimming around him in circles, she squinted her eyes momentarily, her shadow casting on him – the youngest merprince noticed the girl’s presence after a few seconds, slowly sitting up and raising his head, eyes red and swollen.

“ _My, my, my, sweet Todomatsu-Kun…you’re in quite the predicament…_ ” She spoke up, tone as though it was full of pity for the young boy.

“ _T-Totoko-Chan!_ ” Todomatsu exclaimed, eyes widening in recognition – the prince then instantly paused, letting go of Atsushi’s stone face as he flushed red, rubbing his eyes, and blinking repeatedly up at her, “I-I can’t believe it,  _it’s really you!_ ”

“Yup, it’s me, Todomatsu-Kun!” Totoko replied with a giggle, settling herself on top of the destroyed stone pile - now sat in front of the young prince, the girl’s elbows rested on her curved tail, and her chin rested on top of interlaced fingers, “It’s been a while, Your Highness! Around…” She paused, smiling at the boy, before offering with her left hand, “A year now?” 

“Y-Yeah…” Todomatsu replied with an unsettled nod, eyeing the girl up and down, “Y-You look…different…” he pointed out, looking down at her tail, clearly uncomfortable. Totoko merely smirked at the gesture.

“Well," She began, sighing out in exasperation, and leaning back to look up at the cavern, "Having Osomatsu-kun use his magic to turn my  _beautiful_  mermaid tail into that of an eel’s  _will_  change my appearance, silly!” She informed offhandedly with a giggle, bringing her eyes back to the boy, intensely gazing at him – Todomatsu seemed to notice the action as he visibly tensed up, “And you’re rather different, too, by the looks of things!” She added on through squinted eyes, Todomatsu knowing she was looking at his bruised eye.

“Ah, no, well, that is---“ The youngest prince instantly cut himself off whilst subconsciously touching his left eye, and looking down at his tail – he then brought his head back up, “But, I mean---…You still look nice!” He complimented with a forced smile, waving his arms all around, “Nii-San---No, I mean…Osomatsu never really  _did_  specify what happened…why you left the kingdom a year ago without warning, that is…and why he cursed you with his magic…” The prince added on in a mutter.

“Well, I broke his heart by showing interest in another merman just after he became king, he got angry, and so, he banished and cursed me!” Totoko listed off on her fingers, “Geez, is he that much of a wimp he couldn’t even _explain_ why I left to entire the kingdom?” She pouted with a cocked eyebrow.

“He told the kingdom to forget about you…and that you were a traitor...” Todomatsu replied steadily, “We’ve all missed you, and we tried to get him to reconsider about your banishment, but---“

“Well, it’s a good thing my parents left afterwards,” She interrupted with a sigh, “They haven’t come back since my banishment, right?” She inquired, “Last I heard, they were living somewhere up North, in another kingdom…” She muttered.

“Y-yeah,” Todomatsu said with a small nod, before staring at her in shock, “But Totoko-Chan, does that mean you haven’t seen them at all since?”

“I can’t face them,” The girl replied with a smile, although Todomatsu knew true melancholy was behind it, “It’s better this way.”

“…J-Just where have you been living, exactly?” He asked worriedly with a sniff, fumbling nervously with his hands, not taking his eyes off of the girl.

Totoko eyed the boy silently for a few seconds, before swimming closer towards him, closing the gap between their bodies – as she placed both of her hands on the bottom of the cavern’s surface, practically trapping Todomatsu’s body between them, she leaned closer with a smile – Todomatsu tensed up yet again, attempting to lean back - he stared at her in pure shock, hearing her silent breathing, and feeling her eel tail brush against his stomach - for some reason, it put him on edge.  _She was clearly different._

“ _I can show you,_ ” Totoko whispered, “ _Someone with great powers took me in – someone who can give me my tail back, but for a price,_ " She paused before continuing on, "Of course, he can also make all of  _your_  dreams come true…just imagine – you and your prince…together…" She informed, causing the youngest prince to stare at her, lips parted.

“W—“ Todomatsu cut himself off, knitting his eyebrows together, now cautious, “ _…I don't understand...._ ”

Totoko playfully smirked, leaning close towards the boy’s ear.

“ _It’s Tougou_.” She answered with another whisper, before backing away with a smile, now floating above the prince. 

Todomatsu stared up at her in confusion for a few seconds, before he slowly raised himself to float on her level – as he stared at her in shock, he couldn’t help but suck in a quick breath of recognition, placing a hand on his chest.

“ _T-Tougou..?_ ” He asked, momentarily looking down at his tail before staring into Totoko’s eyes yet again, “ _The sea wizard...?_ ” He added on in disbelief, "You mean...the guy who lived in our palace for years...only to try and steal the throne from my parents after their passing a year ago…?  _That Tougou?_ ”

“Yup! That’s the one!” Totoko beamed with a wink, the smirk not leaving her face.

“ _N-….No way!_ ” Todomatsu stammered in exclamation, “He tortured Osomatsu nii-san whilst they were fighting over the throne! H-He wanted to rule The Seven Seas and the kingdom, and just  _barely_  lost to Nii-san!”

“Of course, I know all about it,” Totoko replied offhandedly, “I heard from Tougou-Sama how much of a fight Osomatsu-Kun put up to claim his title as king.”

“Then why---“

“Come  _on_ , Todomatsu-kun! We both know Osomatsu-kun is leader material, but not kingly material!” She reasoned, “I mean, you can see the stress is getting to him! He was only fifteen when he became the king! A year ago! He’s clearly not cut out for such responsibility!  _Surely that bruise proves me right!_ ” She added on in exclamation, gesturing to the youngest prince’s eye.

Todomatsu flinched at the gesture, raising his shoulders in fear.

After noticing his reaction, Totoko lowered her hands and bit down on her lip, unable to look the boy in the eye.

There was a while of silence as their heads were hanging down low.

Totoko noticed the human prince’s stone face lying between them on the cavern’s bottom surface – lowering herself to pick the object up, she was then interrupted mid-action.

" _No, I couldn't possibly do such a thing_...even if you  _are_  the Totoko-chan I knew..." Todomatsu muttered quietly, fists clenched as he looked down - Totoko cocked an eyebrow as she looked up at him, " _J-Just leave me alone!_ " He snapped, turning himself around.

Totoko stared at the youngest prince blankly for a few seconds, before sighing out, picking the stone face up.

"Suit yourself, Todomatsu-kun...it was only a suggestion…" She replied in composure – as she swam past him, the girl made sure to shove the object into the prince’s chest (which he subconsciously took from her).

Whilst Totoko ascended back to where she had entered the cavern from, Todomatsu stared down at Atsushi’s stone face, assessing it yet again – the boy bit down on his lip in desperation, staring from the object in his hands to Totoko, before he shortly squeezed his eyes shut, staring at the girl helplessly.

“ _W-Wait, Totoko-Chan_ …” He called out, pressing the stone to his chest yet again. 

Totoko grinned maliciously at the address, stopping her movement and turning around.

“ ** _Yes…?_** ” She inquired sweetly in a prolonged, extended fashion.

 “Please…t-take me to him…” Todomatsu muttered, staring down at his tail, “ _Take me to Tougou…_ ”

* * *

“ _Karamatsu nii-San, it was an accident…I swear, I didn’t mean to tell and cause any of this…_ ”

“ _I understand, Choromatsu…But I still feel bad for Totty…_ ”

“ _…I saw his eye was bruised_ _…And the cuts on Osomatsu nii-san's skin healed almost instantly…_ ”

“ _To think he’d harm Totty in such a way...he’s meant to be the eldest…_ ”

“ _It can’t be easy to have so much responsibility as king…But to have_ _Totty reveal his feelings for that human prince…even if it **was** an accident, on top of all of Nii-san's stress..."_

The two princes couldn’t help but chew on their lips, clearly on edge and nervous – as Karamatsu had his arms folded, leaning against the outer wall of the cavern, he couldn’t help but stare down at the ocean bottom with a frown, his blue tail curling.

Choromatsu, on the other hand, was sat on a rock just in front of the cavern, hugging his green tail whilst his eyebrows were tilted upwards in melancholy, and staring at his older brother.

The two princes were then jolted out of their intense thought upon seeing the seagrass to enter the cavern moved out of the way, Todomatsu floating out – the two were about to address him, until spotting Totoko smiling behind the boy. 

Choromatsu slowly raised himself up in utter shock, his eyebrows now knitted together, eyes squinted, and lips parted. Karamatsu frantically leaned off of the wall, undoing his folded arms, and floating up to his youngest brother, who seemed indifferent about the entire ordeal.

Choromatsu instantly swam up to the youngest prince with a frown, looking from him to Totoko (who hadn’t taken her eyes off of Todomatsu) – Todomatsu send the two a quick glance before continuing to swim to his unknown destination, eyes half-lidded whilst swollen and red, facial expression blank, and the bruise on his left eye becoming far more prominent.

“ _T-Todomatsu---What the hell---_ “

“ ** _Eh?! Totoko-Chan!?_** ” 

“ _Shut up for a second, Karamatsu nii-san!_ ” Choromatsu snapped, turning from his older brother back to their youngest brother, following him (as did Karamatsu), “ _T-Todomatsu, just what is the meaning of this!? W-Where are you going? A-And why are you with…with----…_ ”

“ _Long time no see, Choromatsu-Kun!_ ” Totoko interjected with a bright giggle, waving at the boy. 

Choromatsu instantly twitched his eye in discomfort at the address, staring into Totoko’s eyes momentarily before redirecting his attention back to Todomatsu.

The youngest Matsuno merely raised an eyebrow at his older brother, before sighing out in exasperation.

“ _I’m going to see Tougou._ ” He replied casually.

Karamatsu and Choromatsu instantly brought their swimming to a stop and tensed up at the reply, now bug-eyed; their action didn’t impact Totoko and Todomatsu’s swimming, however, as the pair were continuing to make their way.

After processing what his youngest brother had just said over and over again, Karamatsu sucked a sharp breath in, swimming up to Todomatsu’s side yet again, Choromatsu following suite.

“No, Todomatsu! You can’t!” Choromatsu snapped, grabbing the boy’s wrist and pulling him back, “That man is a wizard! An utter Devil! You saw what he did to Osomatsu!” He added on in caution, causing Karamatsu to repeatedly nod in assurance of such a fact.

Totoko merely rolled her eyes at the two brothers, her gaze lingering back to Todomatsu as she was now in front of the young merprince and leading the way.

“Todomatsu-Kun, are you coming?” She inquired monotonously, “Tougou-Sama doesn’t have a lot of time on his hands.” She added on with a slight impatience, tilting her head.

Todomatsu turned his head to face the girl with a small nod, yanking his wrist out of Choromatsu’s grip, who was now helplessly floating by Karamatsu – as the 2nd eldest stared in utter horror at the girl’s sentence, he began making hand gestures as his jaw dropped.

“…T—‘Tougou-Sama’!?” He repeated in utter disbelief, “Just what happened to you, Totoko-Chan?!” 

“Todomatsu,  _please_  don’t go with her!” Choromatsu pleaded as he held his arms out, the strain easily distinguishable in his voice.

“Why don’t you go and tell Osomatsu,  _‘Nii-san’?_ ” Todomatsu replied bitterly with a cocked eyebrow, before turning himself around, back now facing his elder brothers, “You’re good at that.” He shortly added on, proceeding to follow Totoko, whom hid her giggle behind her hand at such a reply.

As the 2nd and 3rd eldest merely floated side by side in shock, not moving due to the psychological impact of such a reply, Choromatsu instantly raised his shoulders with a frown, shaking his head after noticing the two were moving further and further away.

“ _Come on, Karamatsu nii-san! We’re following them!_ ”

* * *

Todomatsu wasn’t going to lie – he was slightly intimidated by the entrance to Tougou’s place. So much so, that his fins were subconsciously slowing down, although Karamatsu and Choromatsu were still lagging behind him – well, not that he particularly minded whether or not they tagged along.

The banished sea wizard seemed to have a thing for decaying whale skeletons, since that’s what his home was made up of – although the thought _had_ struck Todomatsu that this was all due to the fact that Osomatsu had banished the man – but all in good right; the guy was evil. He tried to take the throne after the sextuplets’ parents had passed away, and tortured his eldest brother in the process, after all.

Todomatsu knew that – Tougou may have been the reason behind Osomatsu’s character change - the youngest merprince knew all of this, and yet…

“ _This way._ ” Totoko purred through a whisper, eyes gleaming whilst she inspected the boy - instantly blinking out of his trance, Todomatsu realised he was floating outside of the dim entrance, body tensed up. In fact, the entire vicinity was dark and dim.

After quickly gulping and nodding his head, Todomatsu looked around to see pink steam emerging from the ocean floor as Totoko smoothly made her way inside – however, the boy then shivered upon noticing the resounding crying coming from within the skeleton – the type of high-pitched, overlapping crying which would always give one nightmares. There seemed to have been some moans and groans mixed in, too.

With a quick exhale, the prince made his way inside, and upon his arrival, noticed the murky, corridor was filled from top to bottom with millions of polyps, realising that they were the source of the terrifying sounds – Totoko simply sniggered to herself at the current disgusted facial expressions the youngest prince was making in response to seeing the creatures, unknowing that they, too, were once merpeople. 

Choromatsu and Karamatsu followed suite silently, quite the distance away from their youngest brother – the two instantly linked arms upon seeing the polyps, intent on not making any contact with the creatures, grimacing in horror.

As Todomatsu cautiously made his way through the corridor, sticking relatively close to Totoko, and well away from the polyps, he then sighed out in relief upon reaching (what seemed like to him) the main hall of the place.

Totoko had begun to swim around in the free space away from the polyps with a content sigh of relaxation, smiling to herself. It was dim and murky, like that of an ancient seashell; in fact…

“ _Come in…come in, my child - no need to be shy. My, how you've grown, Todomatsu-Kun! Your eye looks like it hurts!_ ”

Todomatsu abruptly made his way inside of the main hall and froze at the voice which he hadn’t heard in over a year – the voice that had put his family (namely Osomatsu) through so much. The youngest merprince couldn’t help but clench his fists by his side, visibly tense. Karamatsu and Choromatsu were also on high alert whilst stood just in front of the entrance of the main hall, frowning and gritting their teeth, wanting to get their distaste across.

Of course, Tougou hadn’t changed a bit - the half squid-half human wizard was always different from the merpeople, with his ancient seashell-coloured tentacles all over the place, obnoxiously moving here and there, taking up  _far_  too much space than necessary. 

However, despite his appearance, he had proved to be a huge help, back when the sextuplets’ parents were still alive; his magic was an impressive thing which aided the kingdom, after all. Some would even say it was on par with the ex-King’s, before Osomatsu, Matsuzou Matsuno.

But Todomatsu knew that such a kind person was far too good to be true – the youngest prince would be lying if he said he didn’t feel that there was something rather ‘off’ about the man the first time he had met him at 10 years old. His intuition had always told him so, deep in his heart, but he never voiced it.

_Well, it's not like his brothers would listen to him, anyway - he was the youngest out of them, after all._

The wizard was always working with his father in an attempt to better the kingdom, so any interactions he had with himself and his brothers was minimal - and when Todomatsu saw the man attempting to hurt Osomatsu, a day before his eldest brother’s coronation through torture…it was far worse than Todomatsu could ever imagine.

All of these thoughts flooded through Todomatsu’s head in an attempt of recollection and familiarity – however, to the youngest Matsuno, the sense of familiarity with the man had totally disappeared, the same being applied to Totoko.

As Tougou descended from the throne hanging from the dark ceiling, the man gave a wide grin whilst his tentacles curled yet again – Todomatsu bit the inside of his cheek at the man’s appearance, blinking repeatedly, unsure of where to look. Scratching his arm nervously, the boy made his way to float in front of the sea wizard.

Tougou’s eyes remained half-lidded as he tilted his head, inspecting the young prince from top to bottom, the grin not leaving his face – Todomatsu could feel shivers going down his spine at the guy’s mannerisms.

“ _Now then!_ ” Tougou beamed with a clap, before placing a casual arm around Todomatsu’s shoulder, guiding him around the main hall, “I hear you’ve come here because you’ve developed a, uh---...”  He paused, eyeing Todomatsu up yet again, “ _Thing_ , for a human –  _this prince fellow?_ ” He inquired, cocking an eyebrow and rolling his tongue inside his mouth.

Todomatsu’s face flushed at the question, and he couldn’t help but dismiss his feelings of discomfort – instead, his eyes were sparkling as he stared down at his tail, clearly bashful of admitting it. Tougou couldn’t help but snigger at the action, as did Totoko.

“Well, don’t worry about it, my boy, we’ve all been there, one way or another -” The man reassured, “ _But I must say, it’s such a waste on your **beautiful** self_.” He added on, causing Todomatsu to freeze and stare at the man in horror, before squinting his eyes and pulling away from the guy’s arm around his shoulder.

“Yeah---uhm…” Todomatsu stuttered out, unsure of where to look yet again whilst scratching his arm – Karamatsu instantly clenched his teeth, motioning to float over to Tougou, until he was pulled back by Choromatsu, whom simply shook his head whilst frowning.

“This is what he wants, Nii-san!” The 3rd eldest reminded sternly, “He’s a sick freak who’s always made us feel uncomfortable! He  _wants_  us to lose our cool!”

“Aside from your, uh… ** _comments_ ,**” Todomatsu carried on, looking at the man hopefully, “ _What about my situation?_ ” He inquired.

Tougou inspected Todomatsu for a few seconds before chuckling to himself and swimming away from him - he then approached what seemed like a large stone cauldron, located in the center of the main hall, the orb now gone from sight.

As Todomatsu turned himself around and stared at the sight in curiosity, head tilted, he noticed Tougou creating hand gestures – the abrupt opening of the cauldron caused the youngest prince to jump in shock, letting a small squeak escape from his mouth. 

“Why, the answer is simple,” Tougou replied, “ _The only way to get what you want…is **to become a human yourself.**_ ”

The youngest Matsuno instantly dismissed his shock from the cauldron, and instead, redirected it to what Tougou had just said – the boy stared wide-eyed, eyes sparkling in longing.

He didn’t  _want_  to ask, thinking that it was a cruel joke.

“ _Can you—_ “ Todomatsu cut himself off, momentarily biting down on his lip, “ _…Can you **do** that?_” He asked, the vulnerability practically spilling from his voice. 

Tougou’s eyes gleamed maliciously as he made his way over to the boy yet again, pulling him along to float in front of the cauldron.

“My boy,  ** _it’s what I live for!_** ” The man replied, bringing a finger beneath Todomatsu’s chin to have the boy look up at him – Todomatsu instantly jerked away from the action, Tougou merely grinning at the reaction. 

The man then gestured for Todomatsu to lean in close as they hovered at level with the cauldron, placing his arm around the young prince’s shoulder yet again.

“ _Now listen to me **very** carefully, as this is my proposition for you,_” Tougou began – Todomatsu pouted at the order with a slight frown, nodding his head, “ _I can make you a potion that will turn you a human for five days,_ ” He offered, noticing Todomatsu’s eyes trailing off to look around – with a roll of his eyes, the man abruptly curled one of his tentacles beneath the boy’s chin, turning Todomatsu’s head around to face him again, “ _Got it? **Five** days,_ ” He repeated sternly – Todomatsu gave a small nod as he clutched to the edge of the cauldron, feeling his tail rising, “Good – now **_listen_** ,” The man ordered yet again, making a gesture with his right hand, illuminating where they both stood – out of the cauldron came five yellow orbs of light, each of which rose and disappeared back into the stone.

Todomatsu stared at the sight with sparkling eyes – the man truly was a genius, as much as it pained him to think it.

“B _efore the sun sets on the fifth day, **you** have to get your **beloved** prince to fall for you,_ ” Tougou carried on, looking from his cauldron to Todomatsu with a grin, before leaning back, “ ** _That is_** _, he needs to insinuate a kiss, and act upon it.”_ He added on with a swift hand gesture.

All at once, out of the cauldron came a bright and shimmering red heart, rising ever so slightly above it – Todomatsu looked up at the sight, lips parted and not knowing what to say.

“Now, if he _does_ kiss you, you’ll remain as a human _permanently_ ,” Tougou continued on with a smirk, showing the younger boy a projection of his silhouette running on two human feet – Todomatsu absolutely marvelled at the thought as he leaned in closer and over the cauldron to look up at it, smiling to himself, “However, if he doesn’t kiss you, you’ll turn back into your original form, and…” Tougou paused for a few seconds, the smirk not leaving his face, his eyes remaining fixated on Todomatsu – the youngest Matsuno’s face dropped at the silhouette showing him as a merman, turning his head to look Tougou in the eyes with a slight frown, “ _You’ll belong to **me!**_ ”

Choromatsu instantly floated towards his youngest brother, as did Karamatsu.

“ _No, Todomatsu!_ ” The 3rd eldest snapped, before his voice became muffled, and he stared in shock – Karamatsu looked at his younger brother in utter horror, then back to Totoko, who was hissing towards the two boys maliciously - the girl seemed to have enchanted Choromatsu to keep quiet for now.

As Todomatsu stared at them momentarily in worry, he turned himself back around to look into the cauldron, the melancholy written all over his face as he lightly bit down on his lip.

“ _If I become human…_ ” He began, “ _I’ll never see my brothers again…_ ” He muttered with pure uncertainty.

“Why, that’s absolutely correct!” Tougou exclaimed, the sarcasm practically dripping from his voice as he held his chin with his thumb and index – he then rolled his eyes with a smile, “But you’ll be human, and have your man,” He stated in persuasion, before chuckling to himself, “Life’s full of tough choices, my boy. _Take it as a life lesson._ ”

Todomatsu knitted his eyebrows together at the man’s reply, but the youngest prince knew that he had a point.

“Also, I’m afraid to say it, but we can’t have it being too easy for you,” Togou stated, illustrating his point by looking over at Choromatsu and Karamatsu with a smirk – the two boys instantly tensed up, “Which is why _**they're**_  under an oath – they're not allowed to explain _anything_ about your situation to your beloved prince - of course, that includes through _talking, gesturing, drawing, or writing_ – the same goes for your other brothers.” He added on offhandedly, "If they do, the contract will _instantly_ become nullified, you'll automatically return to being a merman, and you'll belong to me, no questions asked." He finished off, causing Todomatsu to glance at his brothers momentarily, before giving a rigid nod.

“It wasn’t my intention to have them help me, anyway.” The boy muttered.

“Glad to hear it - Oh, and that reminds me!” Tougou brought up with a clap of his hands, “To discuss the subject of payment!” He stated, causing Todomatsu to stare, taken aback.

“....B-But I don’t have---“

Before the youngest prince could say anymore in an attempt to explain himself, Tougou merely covered his mouth with a snigger.

“Don’t worry, my boy, _I’m not asking for much_ – and after all, _nothing in this world is free_.” The man replied in reassurance, before retracting his hand from the prince’s mouth, and instead, grabbing the boy’s chin up to look at him, “Believe me, you won’t even miss it!” He added on with a bright smile – Todomatsu’s lips parted at the action as he stared up at Tougou blankly, “ _What I want from you is… **Your voice**_.”

Todomatsu blinked at the man for a few moments, before he pulled away in confusion, looking down at his tail as he touched his throat.

“ _…My voice?_ ” He inquired through repetition.

“No more talking, or singing,” Tougou listed off on his fingers, before clicking them, “ _Pure silence from you._ ” He gestured with a smirk, pointing at Todomatsu.

“B-But without my voice, how can I----“

“My poor, sweet child! You have your looks!” Tougou snapped, his facial expression momentarily full of pure agitation to Todomatsu, “And don’t underestimate the _importance_ of physical contact!” He added on in exclamation, before swimming over towards an enlarged shell, making a swift hand gesture (pure magic raining down for a few seconds), only to reveal the overflowing potion ingredients hidden within it.

Totoko licked her lips at the sight, eyes shimmering – Karamatsu eyed the girl for a few seconds, knowing her freedom somehow depended on the objects Tougou was either carelessly tossing out of the way, only to have them float around, or grabbing violently to toss into the stone cauldron.

As Todomatsu stared in pure worry at the shattering vials of glass which were being sucked into the stone cauldron, the youngest prince helplessly stared at the arising violet smoke from the stone, which was practically filling the entire room up.

The boy then jumped upon Tougou grabbing him by the wrist to bring him closer towards the cauldron yet again – the man’s eyes seemed to be filled with craze as the vials he slammed into the cauldron were smashing violently, causing Todomatsu to wince in fear.

“ _Come on, you –_ “

Upon one particular ingredient being added to the brewing potion, a loud explosion had occurred, the hall being coloured red by the newly-generated smoke, now seeming to overflow out of the stone and arise. Todomatsu couldn’t help but back away slightly, his shoulders raising themselves in high alert.

 _“Poor unfortunate soul!_  
_Go ahead!_  
_Make your choice!”_

Tougou menacingly began to lean on Todomatsu with a grin, presenting the cauldron with open arms – at one point, his magic caused Todomatsu to see Atsushi’s face there – as bright and beautiful as ever.

All Todomatsu could do was stare at the human prince, entranced by his appearance as he let out a dreamy sigh – however, he was then snapped out of his daze upon Tougou’s resounding singing.

 _“I'm a very busy wizard, and I haven't got all day,_  
_It won't cost much -_  
_Just your voice!”_

As Todomatsu stared at the frightful man, Choromatsu and Karamatsu witnessed the sight wide-eyed, calling out in muffles for Todomatsu not to listen to him – Totoko witnessed the sight with a snigger, floating over close by Tougou’s side.

 _“You poor unfortunate soul!_ _  
It's sad, but true!”_

The elderly man then invaded the boy’s personal space severely, hugging him close again his chest whilst presenting Todomatsu with a golden, glowing scroll, inches away from his face – as Todomatsu grimaced at Tougou’s action, he peered worriedly at the parchment filled with writing, the only words catching his eyes being ‘For All Eternity. Signed,’.

 _“If you want to cross the bridge, my sweet,_  
_You've got the pay the toll,_  
_Take a gulp and take a breath,_  
_And go ahead and sign the scroll!”_

The boy then gasped in shock to look up and see the appearance of a white, glowing pen, floating there, and beckoning for him to take it whilst the air of magic was practically enveloping it. Tougou couldn’t help but send a look of pure triumph in Totoko’s direction, causing the girl to clutch her stomach and cackle silently.

_“The boss is on a roll!”_

Todomatsu stared from the scroll with a frown, whipping his head around to look behind him and at Karamatsu’s mortified expression, as well as Choromatsu’s enraged expression – of course they wouldn’t be happy about this – Osomatsu would probably be furious if he knew – or no, wait…would he? He probably wouldn’t care…plus, Todomatsu would finally be able to make the possibility of him and Atsushi meeting come true!

Knowing his resolution, the boy stared at the glowing pen with a frown full of determination, grabbing it and looking up at Tougou, who had, at some point, released him from his grasp, floating well above the young prince’s head, and holding his hand out whilst gesturing towards the pen.

All at once, Todomatsu squeezed his eyes shut, turned his head away from the scroll, clenched his teeth, and signed the piece of paper with his name – it was quick, swift, and truthfully, the boy couldn’t help but open his eyes and turn his head back around to stare at his signed name - Karamatsu and Choromatsu witnessed the sight helplessly whilst bug-eyed, their jaws wide open in shock.

_“This poor unfortunate soul!”_

Tougou then grabbed the scroll floating in front of the youngest Matsuno, his magic enabling it to roll up by itself, and disappear entirely. Staring at his hand for a few short seconds, the man whipped his head around to stare at Todomatsu with a wide grin, eyes red and full of pure villainous intent. Todomatsu would be lying if he said he couldn’t feel his breath hitch in the back of his throat out of pure fear.

The man then swam close towards the cauldron, making circular hand gestures after the smoke had died down completely, now leaving the cauldron glowing a bright blue, illuminating Tougou’s face. As the man chanted unintelligible babbles (well, to Todomatsu, anyway), the youngest prince couldn’t help but nervously gulp and squeeze his eyes shut, knowing they were being enveloped by a tornado-like gust of power, its source undoubtedly coming from the stone.

After opening one eye to take a peek, Todomatsu stared wide eyed at the green-coloured tornado spinning around them. He then noticed Tougou was grabbing at his own throat relatively tightly, before pointing at him.

“ _Now, **sing!**_ ”

Todomatsu obliged at the order, vocalising his regular scales in a prolonged fashion, feeling rather awkward at the fact that all eyes were on him. However, the boy shrugged it off relatively quickly, and looked up to see what seemed like two green claws above Tougou’s head, slithering towards him and towards his neck. Being urged to continue singing by the elderly man, Todomatsu did so, and felt short of breath for a split second, as though he was drowning. With the magical force causing him to lean back a bit, Todomatsu could feel one claw re-shape itself and go into his mouth, whereas the other hit him in the throat.

_Then, just like that, Todomatsu’s voice was taken from him._

The boy instantly closed his mouth, grabbed at his neck softly with both hands, and stared wide eyed at the retracting green claws, which weren’t claws any longer, but rather, two long strips of magic, guiding his faint, echoing voice (which he could see was a glowing orb) towards the nautilus shell which Tougou currently had around his neck, holding the object in his hands, as though it was a precious treasure.

The man’s eyes trailed from Todomatsu’s neck, towards the glowing orb, then finally, staring down at his seashell, Tougou licked his lips, sealing the magic – Todomatsu could clearly see the shell was now glowing.

With the man cackling as though he was mad, his voice loud enough to seem as though it was resounding throughout the entirety of The Seven Seas, Todomatsu’s train of thought was cut short as the tornado disappeared entirely, but instead, the stone cauldron began to go off with explosions, an orange bubble of magic enveloping Todomatsu’s entire body.

It was the most surreal feeling the youngest Matsuno had ever experienced -  it was like he was drowning; as he wriggled and writhed, not knowing what to do with his hands, the boy squeezed his eyes shut yet again, and attempted to move his tail as best as he could – however, he opened his mouth in shock to realise they were reshaping themselves; morphing through white flashes, and just like that, the orange bubble had disappeared entirely, leaving Todomatsu to fend for himself.

Karamatsu and Choromatsu instantly called out to their youngest brother, their voices fully audible out of desperation – swimming up to him as fast as their tails could take them, the elder princes noticed Todomatsu was wide eyed, had human legs, and was struggling to swim up to the ocean surface as he had puffed his cheeks out in an attempt to hold his breath, and his arms were flailing towards the ocean surface.

The two elder brothers then dragged Todomatsu’s body up towards the ocean surface by placing his arms around their shoulders, the two of them clenching their teeth, knowing that time was of the essence.

Choromatsu worriedly looked down at the whale skeleton they had just left, Tougou’s cackles still far too audible – he then looked at Todomatsu’s frantic facial expression, before seeing Karamatsu was frowning in pure agitation.


End file.
